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THE PSYCHOLOGY 
OF DRESS 



By the Same Author 



INTERIOR DECORATION 

ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 



PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING 
ARRANGEMENT 




LAST QUARTER OP EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. COSTUMES AND SOCIAL 
LIFE IN FRANCE. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY 
OF DRESS 

BY 
FRANK ALVAH PARSONS, B. S. 

II 
PRESIDENT OF NEW YORK SCHOOL OF FINE AND APPLIED ART 




ILLUSTRATED 



DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

GARDEN CITY 1920 NEW YORK 



W-^g 



©C1.A604098 



s-l! 



|0 






COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION 

INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



m 13 1S20 



TO AMERICAN AND OTHER LADIES WHO 
ARE INTERESTED IN CAUSE AND EFFECT 
IN DRESS, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED. 



PREFACE 

APPARENTLY there are two main reasons for writing 
the preface to a book. The one, that traditional prac- 
tice may be duly observed, the other, that the writer 
may make suitable apology for what he has done or 
perchance fittingly acknowledge the assistance given 
him by his friends. The second, is the reason for this 
preface. 

It would be presumptuous to present this book as a 
History of Costume. It attempts no such colossal 
task. It is equally absurd to claim for it a thorough, 
technical, psychological treatment of any one period or 
group of periods. It makes no such boast. 

There has been in the last decade a remarkable awak- 
ening to the relations which exist between man and his 
works, between the mind and its expression in material 
objects, and also to how absorbing or dominating ideas 
and interests colour, if not determine, the entire exter- 
nalized thought of man in religious, political and social 
life. It is this that makes history live, that makes psy- 
chology a vital thing and Art a quality essential to full 
human expression and inseparable from human life. 

This is the thought the author has in mind in the se- 
lection, analysis, and treatment of such European pe- 
riods as have most directly influenced our development 
and that illustrate perhaps, most clearly, the principles 
which are not only concerned in the development of 
style in clothes, but in that of the allied arts as well. 

vii 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Mediaeval Europe 3 

II. The Renaissance in Italy (1400 to 1600) ... 47 

III. The Renaissance in France and England. The 

Sixteenth Century 95 

IV. The Seventeenth Century in France, Italy, and 

England 149 

V. The Eighteenth Century in France and Italy . 193 

VI. The Eighteenth Century in England and Amer- 

ica 238 

VII. Characteristic Nineteenth Century Styles . . 284 

VIII. Early Twentieth Century Characteristics . . 318 
Index 353 



IX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Last Quarter of Eighteenth Century. Costumes and 
Social Life in France Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Beginning of the Ninth Century. Charlemagne . . 10 
End of the Ninth Century. Charles IV of France . 10 
About the Middle of the Eleventh Century. Henry I 

of France 10 

Beginning of the Thirteenth Century. Philippe Au- 

guste of France 10 

Early Thirteenth Century. French 18 

About the Middle of the Thirteenth Century. Blanche 

of Castille 18 

Past the Middle of the Thirteenth Century. St. Louis 18 
Last Quarter of the Thirteenth Century. Philippe III 

of France 19 

Last Part of the Thirteenth Century. Isabel of Aragon 19 
End of the Thirteenth Century. Philippe IV of France 19 
Beginning of the Fourteenth Century. Jeanne de 

Navarre 19 

First Quarter of the Fourteenth Century. Louis X of 

France 26 

First Quarter of the Fourteenth Century. Marguerite 

de Bourgogne 26 

Early Fifteenth Century. French 27 

Near the End of the Fourteenth Century. Charles VT 

of France 34 

Last Half of the Fourteenth Century. Jeanne de 

Bourbon 34 

xi 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

About theMiddle of the Fifteenth Century. Charles VII 34 
Third Quarter of the Fifteenth Century. Louis XI . 34 
Last Quarter of the Fifteenth Century. Charles VIII 35 
Last Quarter of the Fifteenth Century. Anne of Bre- 

tagne 35 

Early Fourteenth Century. Italian 35 

Mid-fourteenth Century. Italian 42 

Late Fourteenth Century. Italian 43 

Around Fourteen Hundred. Italian. The Fashions 

of the Late Fourteenth Century 50 

Around Fourteen Hundred. Italian. A Good Variety 

of Costumes 50 

Early Fifteenth Century. Italian. Gothic Spirit 

Mingled with Early Conception of Classic ... 51 
Early Fifteenth Century. Religious Scenario with 

naive Humanism in Manner and in Costumes . . 51 
Second Quarter of the Fifteenth Century .... 58 
Second Part of the Fifteenth Century. Elemental Im- 
pulses Seen in Bodies, Faces, Poses, and Costumes . 59 
About the Middle of the Fifteenth Century. Cos- 
tumes Show Mediseval Pageant Spirit .... Q6 
About the Middle of the Fifteenth Century. More 

Clearly Spiritual Feeling Expressed 66 

Late Fifteenth Century in Venice. Luxurious Mater- 
ials and Peculiar Headdresses 67 

Last Half of the Fifteenth Century. Costumes Show a 

Decided Pagan Classic Conception ..... 67 
Last Half of the Fifteenth Century. Pagan Classic 
Quality of Humanism, and Renaissance Humanism 

Decoratively Expressed 74 

Last Half of the Fifteenth Century. Early Renais- 
sance Costumes 75 

Third Quarter of the Fifteenth Century. Refinement 

and Simplicity of the Renaissance 82 

xii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Third Quarter of the Fifteenth Century. The Charm 
of Unaffected Humanism 82 

Late Fifteenth Century. Early Stages of the Renais- 
sance in Venice 83 

Late Fifteenth Century. Interesting Male Costumes 
in Venice 83 

End of the Fifteenth Century. Tuscan Lady of the 
High Renaissance 90 

Last Half of the Fifteenth Century. Florentine 
Renaissance Lady Simply and Decoratively Dressed . 90 

End of the Fifteenth Century. Madonna .... 91 

Latter Part of the Fifteenth Century. Renaissance 
Lady Richly Dressed 91 

About Fifteen Hundred. Male Costume .... 94 

Early Sixteenth Century. Characteristic Fashions of 
Florentine Ladies 95 

First Half of the Sixteenth Century. Duke of Ferrara 102 

Early Sixteenth Century. Italian. Renaissance Cos- 
tumes Worn by the Courtesans of Venice . . 103 

Early Sixteenth Century. Venetian. Costumes Show 
Harmony with People and their Surroundings . . 106 

First Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. Italian. . 107 

Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. German. 
Unique Decorative Quality Redeems Lack of Taste 
and Love of Show 114 

Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. A Venetian 
Aristocrat 114 

Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. Rich and 
Distinguished Harmony of all Details . . 115 

First Half of the Sixteenth Century. Spanish with 
Italian Influence 115 

Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. English . 122 

Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. French. 
Elegance, Richness and Quality of Decoration well 

Expressed 123 

xiii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

First Half of the Sixteenth Century. Italian . . . 130 
Middle of the Sixteenth Century. Florentine. The 

Compelling Charm of Good Breeding and Culture . 130 
Near the Middle of the Sixteenth Century. German . 131 
Last Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. Italian . . 131 
Last Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. French. The 
Tenacity of Tradition in Cut Offset by Modern 

Details 138 

Last Half of the Sixteenth Century. French. Per- 
sistence of the Headdress and Beginning of the Ruff . 138 
Third Quarter of the Seventeenth Century. Italian . 139 
The Third Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. English 139 
Last Quarter of the Sixteenth Century. French . . 146 
Near the End of the Sixteenth Century. Italian. The 

Child but the Miniature of the Adult in Dress . . 146 
Last Part of the Sixteenth Century. Venetian . . . 147 
First Half of Seventeenth Century. Italian. The 
Gradual Triumph of Material Display over Classic 

and Aesthetic Ideas in Dress 147 

First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Italian. 
Characteristic Qualities in Masculine and Feminine 

Apparel 154 

Early Part of the Seventeenth Century. French. 

Marie de Medici 154 

First Half of the Seventeenth Century. French. 

Anne of Austria 155 

Second Quarter of the Seventeenth Century. Foreign 

Possibilities in Style for Infants' Clothes . . . . 155 
First Half of the Seventeenth Century. English. 

James I 162 

Before the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. Ital- 
ian. Passing of the Ruff and Appearance of the 

Wide Flat Collar 162 

Around the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. Flor- 
entine 163 

xiv 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Around the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. 
Dutch 163 

Middle of the Seventeenth Century. Characteristic 
Fashions from Northwestern Europe 170 

Middle of the Seventeenth Century. German. For- 
eign Fashion and Decoration Characteristically 
Worked Out 170 

About the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. Span- 
ish 171 

Past the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. French . 171 

A Native English Taste Adapting French Fashion on 
French Ground 178 

About the Same Epoch as the Two Preceding Illus- 
trations. Italian 178 

Third Quarter of the Seventeenth Century. Venetian. 
The Period of Louis XIV in France ..... 179 

Late Seventeenth Century. French. Military Social 
Fashions in the Period of Louis XIV 179 

Late Seventeenth Century. Transition to the First of 
the Eighteenth Century Styles 186 

Near the End of the Seventeenth Century. French . 187 

The End of the Seventeenth Century. French Ele- 
gance, Refinement, and Grace 190 

Early Eighteenth Century. French. Luxury of the Late 
Seventeenth Century with Early Louis XV Fashions 191 

The Same Period further Developed 198 

Portrait of the Pompadour. Expresses the Sanest, 
Most Elegant, and Distinctively Charming Phase 
of the Style 199 

By the Middle of the Century there was considerable 
Freedom in Individual Interpretation 202 

Early in the Last Quarter of the Century (the period of 
Louis XVI) Extravagance Reached its Climax . . 203 

The Culmination of the Artificial Period 210 

XV 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

About 1775. French. Interpretation in the Style 
of Louis XVI of a Piedmontese Fashion . . . .210 

Moreau Gives Here the Most Charming Costumes, 
Spirit and Environment of the Most Fascinating 
Social Period 211 

The Part Played Socially by the Toilet of the King and 
His Courtiers is Admirably Revealed 211 

The Piquant Charm of the Riding Habit and Environ- 
ment in Perfect Keeping With Personages and 
Technique 218 

Exaggeration in Style and Unrestrained Ornamentation 
G i ving Place to Practical Elegance and Natural Charm 218 

Madame Le Brun Expresses Transition from Exag- 
geration to the Directoire in Costume of Adelaide 
de Bourbon 219 

The Hypocritical Pose of the Monarchic Ideal, with 

, New and Conscious Desire to be Free and Individual 
Delightfully Combined 219 

Enchanting Harmony between Best Traditions of 
Late Eighteenth Century Social France .... 226 

Undoubtedly the Arcadian Point of View had much to 
do with the Simple Grace and Cultured Aestheticism 
of these Fashions 226 

Fascinating Optimism and Gay Abandon Admirably 
Repeated in every article of Dress 227 

Royal Dictation Supplanted by Individual Expression 227 

The Revolution Wiped Out the Grace, Destroyed the 
Charm, and Arrested at least for a time the Activity 
of the Aesthetic Creative Power 234 

In the Directoire Fashions there are Almost Unlimi- 
ted Ideas for Modern Use . 234 

It Was Not Given to the Ladies to Exploit the New 
and Less Autocratic Phase in Fashion of Dress, but 
it was Arrested by the Empire 235 

xvi 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Venetian . 235 

Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Italian . . 242 

About 1785. Venetian. The Fashions of Versailles 
Interpreted in Italy Have a Charm all their Own . 242 

About the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. English 243 

About 1760. English. The Early Fashion of Petti- 
coat Prominence and the Embroidered Apron . . 243 

Beginning of the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury. English 250 

About the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. New 
England. Colonial 250 

A Little Past the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. 
Colonial 251 

The Third Quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Co- 
lonial , . 251 

About 1770. Colonial. Wife of the Last Royal 
Governor of New Hampshire 258 

Beginning of the Third Quarter of the Eighteenth 
Century. English 258 

About 1770. English. Distinctly French Influence in 
the Dressing of the Hair 259 

Near the Beginning of the Last Quarter of the Eigh- 
teenth Century. English. Signs of the Styles 
Both of Louis XV and Louis XVI 259 

Beginning of the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury. English 266 

Beginning of the Last Quarter of the Eighteentli Cen- 
tury. Colonial 266 

Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century. English. . 267 

Middle of the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury. English 267 

English, at the Height of the Period of Louis XVI in 
France 270 

Another Interpretation of the Style of Louis XVI . . 270 

About 1778. English-American 271 

xvii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

About 1780. English. Reflection of the French Rev- 
olution in England 271 

Late Eighteenth Century. Colonial 278 

Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century. English . . 278 

Late Eighteenth Century. English 279 

Around 1795. English. Influence of the Directoire . 279 

EngHsh, Around 1790. The " Male Style " for Women 
thus Interpreted and Worn Brooks no Criticism . 282 

Early Nineteenth Century. English. The Empire 
Style of France Given a Bit of English Conserva- 
tism 283 

A Quaint and Fascinating Directoire Creation of the 
Last Days of the Eighteenth Century .... 290 

The Spirit of the Empire Appears in this Portrait of 
Mme. Lsetitia Bonaparte, Mother of the Emperor . 290 

The Queen of Naples no doubt Dictated the Fashions 
for Her Court both in Setting and in Costume . . 291 

The Individuality of the Princess Pauline is well 
Shown 291 

Richness and Italian Interpretation of Napoleon's Cos- 
tumes for Men well Exemplified in this Portrait of 
Prince Borghese 298 

Royal Austrian Taste here Coupled with French Em- 
pire Possibilities in the Costume of Empress Louise 299 

For less than Royal Personages Simplicity in Ensemble 
with Peculiarities and Exaggeration in Detail mark 
the Early Part of this Period 306 

Originality, not Taste, was the not infrequent Cause 
of Fashion's Combinations 306 

Many Simple, Lovely, and Adaptable Costumes Found 
Between 1815 and 1825 among People of Taste . . 307 

This Portrait (Italian) done in 1829, might almost 
be but Two Decades Old, or even less, in Some of 
its Details 307 

xviii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

From 1830 to the Middle of the Century "Caprice 
Knew no Bounds" 314 

Taken from "Journal of Paris Fashions" for the 
Spring of 1834. Effect more Eloquent than 
Comment 315 

Contrast the Quaint Affectations of This of the Same 
Date, with the Supreme Ugliness of the Preceding 
One 322 

Our Modern Young Women may Find Solace in Queen 
Victoria's Attempt to Cover her Ears 322 

Of the Fussiness of the Mid-Century, this Portrait of 
the Queen of Louis Philippe is Convincing . . . 323 

While Italy was Possessed with the Desire to Appear 
Delicate, this Mid-century Portrait Shows the Epoch 
at its Best 323 

For Unparalleled Insipidity of Pose, the Period of about 
1862 is Supreme 330 

By 1869 Redemption from the Impossible was no 
longer a Matter for Speculation 331 

To Behold in Silence is a Privilege, to Comment Super- 
fluous and Senseless. (July, 1877) 346 

An Example of Fashion Striving for Piquant 
Originality 347 



XIX 



INTRODUCTION 

IT DOES seem that "there is nothing new under the 
sun" and *'there is nothing either good or bad but think- 
ing makes it so." Men are fundamentally the same in 
every land and every clime, having the same appetites 
and longings, with the same basic motives and vanities, 
differently proportioned, differently stimulated, there- 
fore somewhat differently expressed. 

The intimate connection between mind and material 
expression is daily becoming more clearly understood 
and their natural relationships grow the more absorbing 
as we study from history the various materials and 
forms through which human conceptions of life and its 
needs have been expressed. 

For example : man's primal need for food and shelter 
have pressed him to conceive not only how this need 
shall be satisfied, but in what way things necessary 
to this end shall be made so that they may best answer 
the demand for which they exist. Another need, just as 
universal, has urged him to fashion things in such a way 
that the result shall be (as he sees it) a thing oi beauty — 
that is, that the material, form, and colour which he has 
used shall be so proportioned that the aesthetic sense, 
as well as the physical appetite, shall be satisfied 
through the thing created. 

The House and Clothes have answered the human 
requirement for shelter and, whether we will or not, 
they also express the individual and the national ideal 

xxi 



INTRODUCTION 

of beauty in colour and in form, satisfying in this way 
the demands of the sesthetic instinct. The degree of 
satisfaction these things give the cultivated aesthetic 
sense is the measure of their artistic value, it is not their 
period, their oddity, or their cost that determines it. 

These two aspects of function and beauty, in so far 
as art is concerned, must be observed if a production 
is to be a success in any field of man's creative genius; 
but in the matter of clothes or costumes (and we shall 
use these terms synonymously in this work) there are 
other considerations which affect his work more pro- 
nouncedly than in other fields, and must therefore be 
given a place in the examination of each period, and of 
those cases where a mode endured too short a time for 
the crystallization of a definite style. 

The first of these mighty influences we will call fash- 
ion. I While this has doubtless greatly influenced archi- 
tecture, furniture, manner of painting and of decoration, 
clothes have undoubtedly felt its power more quickly, 
more keenly and sometimes more fatally to the criter- 
ions of good sense and taste. 

The reasons for this are obvious. First, there is the 
religious or ecclesiastical element. Spiritual concepts 
have found expression in combinations of material, 
design, and colour which have become fixed or symbolic 
of religious ideas. At times it has been the fashion to 
ape these forms so that their use has become general in 
secular life. 

By reason of their political control a monarch or his 
satellites could, through the breadth of their power, so 
forcibly impress their personal preferences and idiosyn- 
crasies, first on the ruling class and then, through their 
xxii 



INTRODUCTION 

tendency to imitation, on all classes below them, that 
they became absolute dictators of fashion. Sometimes 
this centralized power lasted for a sufficient time and 
was powerful enough to crystallize the fashion into a 
fixed form, whereupon it became a style, as in the reign 
of Francis I, Louis XIV, or Queen Elizabeth. 

It is in social life, however, that the element of fash- 
ion has mainly flourished and only as ecclesiastical or 
political ideals were associated with or contributory to 
the social order were they prolific sources for fashion's 
exploitation. Sometimes it has been the whim to 
be modest, in affected humility; at other times it has 
pleased social fancy to seem to be "'old-fashioned" or 
mayhap classic in appearance. Either through a de- 
sire for novelty or a wish to express new thoughts and 
emotions, an abnormal love for sumptuous display or an 
apparently unquenchable thirst for the foreign or the 
grotesque, has appeared with equal frequency. 

All these and many other motives found in the minds 
of men have caused them to draw from any source that 
seemed to give promise of a new material element capa- 
ble of lending itself to the general expression of a given 
social order, ^he results in each period or division 
of time speak eloquently of the quality of its elements. 

Second, fashion's most powerful accomplice is now, 
and undoubtedly always has been, what we term "the 
commercial interests," i.e. the selfish desire of one 
man to enrich himself at the expense of the weaknesses 
of others. Where could abetter field be found .^^ Then, 
too, the element of personal vanity has not been left 
out of any one of us. In most of us it seems to outstrip 
all else in rapidity of growth and in the devising of ways 

xxiii 



INTRODUCTION 

and means for its satisfaction. Closely associated with 
this quahty is the determination not to be outdone by 
one's neighbour and the desire to shine by comparison 
with him. What has this not led man to do? 

''Commercial interests" have never been unmindful 
of these and other human weaknesses and while they 
have flourished, fashion, too, has become incredibly 
successful in dictating what people should wear and 
when they should wear it. We need to remind our- 
selves again and again to what lengths men have gone 
that fashion might be obeyed and we should carefully 
calculate the results. In this, surely, everyone will find 
human interest. 

The powerful influences of geography, time, social and 
ethical standards, and strong personalities, as well as prin- 
ciples of art, on the development of clothes as a social 
art expression, may perhaps be mentioned here, though 
they are too obvious to require prolonged discussion. 

Some dominant idea has been developed in every age 
and by every people. Sometimes it was political, often 
purely social, though in a very few cases the spiritual 
ideal seemed for a period to be striving vigorously to 
appear in what the best minds of the time considered 
an adequate expression of the ideal 

The results in costume, as in other mediums, are 
but a material record of the great ideals that swayed 
the nations at the time of their creation. In other 
words, a man's clothes, like other reactions to his 
needs, are his material response to a demand for them, 
and by the results he must stand or fall, whether judged 
commercially, socially, artistically, ethically, or by a 
simple standard of common sense. 

XXIV 



THE PSYCHOLOGY 
OF DRESS 



CHAPTER ONE 

MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

THE term "Mediseval" has been variously inter- 
preted as a span of time included between established 
dates, as almost anything not commonly reckoned as 
modern, or as a vague something quite apart from things 
intimately concerning us as individuals or as nations. 
As a matter of fact there is some truth about each of 
these views but none of them gives the fundamental 
truth which is after all the most important. 

Mediaevalism was first of all an institution, a real, 
living thing. It had its own ideals, its individual 
thoughts and feelings, its peculiar practices, and an 
externalized material expression peculiarly its own, yet 
somewhat related with all that had gone before, and 
wholly inseparable from what we know as the modern 
social order. 

At first this statement may seem to be a contradic- 
tion, but it is not. Medisevalism may perhaps be lik- 
ened, in a way, to that period in youth when one's 
ideals are fresh, romantic, chivalrous, perhaps even 
mystic; before contact with the cold realities of life 
has hardened the sensibilities, or the development of 
reason has supplanted the spontaneous play of the 
emotions, and before materialism has won an illegiti- 
mate ascendency over spiritual conception. Everyone 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

realizes that there was such a period in his own life and 
he will find just such another state in the development 
of the national soul of which he is a part. This is 
mediae valism. 

We are particularly interested in this state of mind as 
it was manifested in Europe (especially in France, Italy, 
and England), first because of the perfection of its ex- 
pression there and then because of its direct contribu- 
tion to what we know as the modern world, or the civili- 
zation of which we are a part. 

Considered from the viewpoint of time, this period 
may be approximately placed between the twelfth and 
the fifteenth centuries, although some historians in- 
clude the tenth and eleventh centuries, or the "dark 
ages," as others term them. The truth is that its be- 
ginnings are to be found in the birth of Christianity and 
its youthful growth traced in the decline and decay of 
Greco-Roman civilization, for in this particular ideal a 
new conception of the relation of spirit with material 
was being formed, and the flower of it burst forth in the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, being generally known 
by the somewhat indefinite name of the Gothic period, 
while its results were classed as Gothic Art. 

Medisevalism can hardly be viewed from the stand- 
point of antiquity, for it is rather the slow death of the 
antique ideals or at least the gradual sinking into ob- 
scurity of the conceptions, practices, and works of the 
ancients, as the various nations of Christendom slowly 
espoused the new order, adapting its practices to new 
conditions, and originating new forms of expression as 
other needs became manifest. The finest and perhaps 
the purest expression of this period is found in France, 
4 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

certainly when seen from the standpoint of art, ItaKan 
expression being more indissolubly mixed with the 
antique, while England's productions were crude, and 
less delicately fashioned. The reasons for this will ap- 
pear as we proceed. 

If we think of this period as unrelated to ourselves 
or to modern life, we are reminded that to it we owe not 
only our most perfect conceptions of western mystic 
spiritual idealism with its attendant expressions in 
architecture, clothes, and the decorative arts, but the 
system of Chivalry with its delightful accessories, which 
laid the foundation for the deferential elegance of the 
Renaissance and, in a more indirect way, for the en- 
chanting charm of the eighteenth-century social order. 

This period was marked not only as one of spiritual 
victory for our civilization, but as the era of our social 
escape from barbarism as well. Not that we have al- 
ways kept clearly in sight this spiritual exaltation or 
that we have not, ever and anon, turned to the results 
of these back-slidings; indeed, it is in just this fluctua- 
tion of influences, diversions, and reversions that the 
intense human interest of the various periods lies, and 
there is surely no better field in which to trace the 
devious paths of human thought than in that of 
clothes, where man has ever given free play to self- 
expression, in a way which, though not always a credit 
to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost 
self, whether he will acknowledge it or not. It is here 
that he has forgotten at times the presence of a spiritual 
ideal, the existence of a faculty called intellect and he 
seems to have denied or silenced his reason, his ethics, 
and his common sense; yet even in such periods clothes 

5 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

as a personal expression are interesting and amusing, 
if neither sensible nor edifying. 

Let us look for a moment at the ideal which, when 
formulated, was expressed in what we know as Medi- 
aeval Gothic Art. Greek, or Classic civilization sought 
the exaltation of material through sesthetic or artistic 
treatment and formulated its spiritual and social exist- 
ence to this end. This conception became for them a 
religion, and the art expression which resulted showed 
the highest development of intellectual pure form in 
material that the world has yet known. We need only 
recall here how the Roman, modifying this ideal in a 
less exalted conception of material form, debased pro- 
portionately his expression, nor need we trace the conse- 
quent decline and ultimate decay of the whole institu- 
tion known as Roman civilization. Decayed it was, but 
not dead, for the spirit lived though the body was 
inert, and it has appeared and reappeared in new forms, 
giving the intellectual pure form basis for our greatest 
succeeding periods and, we may add, the greatest hope 
for the future. 

It was the business of medisevalism to displace this 
ideal for one of its own which incited exaltation of the 
spirit through neglect of the material, or mortification 
of the flesh, in the belief that with the attainment 
of spiritual ecstasy materials would lend themselves to 
the attempt to express it and that spiritual emotional- 
ism would find a ready aesthetic reaction. In this it 
was not mistaken and thus the social expression of the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries was second to, and 
always influenced by, the ecclesiastic ideal. Gradu- 
ally, however, in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

turies, due in part to the founding of the institution 
known as Chivalry, secular life began to make its ap- 
peal felt; over-wrought imagination sought relaxation; 
the body, through the appetites, re-asserted itself, so 
that by the beginning of the fifteenth century a death 
blow to the mediaeval ideal had been dealt (particularly 
in Italy), a new ideal was already forecast and a new 
order — ^namely, the Renaissance, or the first period of 
modern civilization, was initiated. 
^Perhaps it may appear that there is slight need to 
recall these bare facts in connection with the thought 
of mediaeval clothes and yet we recollect that man 
fashions as best he knows, not only clothes but other 
essentials, according to his state of mind and in such 
manner as he believes at the time best achieves the 
satisfaction of his need. Admitting this, there is but 
one way to understand and appreciate results — ^namely, 
by investigating and becoming familiar with the causes 
which underlie the production of these results. Here 
lies the fascination of approaching any historic art 
period from the psychological standpoint rather than 
from that of the chronological or mechanical. If man 
felt no needs he would have no impulse to create. Feel- 
ing the need calls for creative thought as to what will 
satisfy it and involves a demand for material and crafts- 
manship to give the thought form. But this is not all, 
the aesthetic sense demands beauty as its rightful satis- 
faction and this quality, like others, appears in pro- 
portion to its presence in the mind of him who creates, 
no more, no less. That is, we shall recognize and ap- 
preciate exactly as much as we can react to and this is 
measured by the presence of the like quality in our own 

7 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

conception of the created thing. If there were no 
clouds one could always, during the day, find the sun. 
Often too much technique, too much fashion, or too 
much prejudice, may obscure art or perchance the re- 
verse may be equally true. We shall see this freely 
illustrated in our study of period clothes, which are not 
always made for their aesthetic charm any more than 
they are made to facilitate human movement. It is, 
however, the state of mind in which they are con- 
ceived that determines this quality-ratio in the inde- 
scribable combinations we so often find. 

Mediaeval art found its fullest and freest expression 
in the ecclesiastical field. Its churches, its monasteries, 
and its libraries demanded the greatest builders, the 
finest sculptors, and the choicest artists to be found. 
Such costumes as were essential to the ritual of the 
church claimed the greatest share of attention. This 
ecclesiastical dominance influenced the kind of ma- 
terials produced, determined largely the colours used, 
and dictated not only the design of the pattern but the 
style of the garments, particularly in the tenth and 
eleventh centuries and later still in France, which w^as 
less committed to the old order and more ecstatically 
fanatical in its religious creative expression. In all 
countries where Christianity had been accepted and 
during the positive sway of the feudal system there was 
a pronounced ecclesiastical mode always more or less 
influencing even the secular costumes of the social 
order. 

Under the feudal system only the great barons and 
their families wore fine clothes, and these were gener- 
ally crude and quite individual in their style as they 
8 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

were primarily an answer to the need for protection from 
the elements, and secondarily a symbolic expression of 
rank and importance. The individual baron's style 
grew out of his needs and was formed by his association 
with other and more elaborately accoutred families 
as well as by the ecclesiastical models with which he 
came particularly in contact. Tradition, too, had its ef- 
fect, especially during the last decades of feudalistic 
domination, when each family had worked out its own 
distinguishing characteristics. 

During the eleventh century the great mediaeval 
social system known in history as Chivalry was founded 
in France. This system was destined to revolutionize 
the ethics, morals, and manners, first of France, then of 
Italy, England, and other European countries where it 
found a place in the social fabric. 

To realize the power, scope, and influence of the new 
order we must recall something of its nature, as well 
as its relation to the barbaric feudal system then exist- 
ing. It was about the middle of the eleventh century, 
during the reign of Henry I of France, that some nobles, 
ashamed of their lives of brigandage, consecrated them- 
selves and their implements of war to God's service, 
agreeing that in the future they would only "fight 
for right and benevolence." This was the. beginning 
of what is known as Knight Errantry, or Chivalry, 
which spread over France, in fact over Europe, with sur- 
prising rapidity. 

When fully worked out, every boy of noble birth was 
trained to knighthood. At the age of seven he was 
apprenticed to some great lord as page. He attended 
particularly on the ladies and was taught from the first 

9 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

to honour God, reverence women, obey promptly, and 
to respect Christianity. At the age of fourteen he be- 
came an esquire and was then assigned to service in the 
various departments of the household of the lord whom 
he served; for example, one carved at the dinner table 
and distributed the food to the guests. We read that 
he was dressed in scarlet, wore a chaplet on his head, a 
coloured girdle around his waist, that he hung a horn 
around his neck, and carried a white wand. In manner 
he must be exact, respectful, attentive, and always 
alert. 

Another esquire had charge of the stables, attended 
the horses, assisted his lord to mount and dismount, and 
directed the stable service. He was dressed in brown 
and white, but when abroad with his master wore blue 
and white, or sometimes gold and white. There was 
another called an armour-bearer. He performed for his 
lord the duties now performed by a valet, carried the 
armour, and accompanied his lord on expeditions of 
pleasure or war, as did the shield-bearer, who acted in a 
somewhat similar capacity. 

Each lord had regular masters to teach his pages and 
esquires their respective duties, and they were also 
taught to sing, play the harp and lute, to dance, hunt, 
to salute properly, and to wait upon the ladies of the 
household. In some cases they were even expected to 
read and compose verses. At the age of twenty-one the 
esquire became a knight and was entitled to be called 
"Sir" and his wife, if he had one, to be called "Lady." 
His flag was the pennon. When a knight committed 
an offense against another he was tried and punished 
with great severity. His sword was broken, his flag 
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taken, and other public disgraces heaped upon him, un- 
til he was permanently eliminated from his social class. 

Not long after the establishment of this system a re- 
markable change was observed in the manners, tastes, 
amusements, and general pursuits of the social unit. 
Refinement, elegance, and delicacy characterized their 
lives. Chastity, politeness, chivalry, and truth were 
the watchwords of the time. This stimulated the aes- 
thetic and poetic instincts and changed the character 
of literature; at the same time the elaborately set social 
system caused a great trade revival. Invention was 
stimulated, towns became important, and a working 
middle class was evolved, eventually undermining the 
feudal system where but two classes, lords and serfs, 
existed. 

The manufacture of armour and fine materials for 
clothes, the training of horses, and the general exchange 
of necessities and luxuries opened up communication 
between distant parts of the country as well as between 
France and other countries. The mode of domestic 
life increased the number of servants, the desire for 
luxuries multiplied, and the effect of comfort and af- 
fluence was apparent everywhere. 

We cannot believe, however, that even with the high 
ideals embodied in the institution of Chivalry, the ideal 
state really existed. Many were slow to practice the 
code which they publicly espoused. Tradition was 
strong, the people were still human, selfish, vain, and 
somewhat undeveloped; yet this system may properly 
be said to have sounded the death knell of heathen bar- 
barism and to have marked the beginning of Christian 
civilization as we know it to-day. 

11 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

In the last decade of the eleventh century began the 
Crusades, or rehgious wars, between the Christians of 
the West and the Mohammedans of the East for the 
domination of Palestine. At first the claim made was 
only for the right to visit the holy sepulchre, but as the 
Christian West gradually lost its distinctive idealism 
and became increasingly ambitious, it determined to 
own and to rule the whole of the Holy Land. With the 
detailed success of the first crusade "through fire and 
sword," with the strifes and hardships and partial 
successes and failures of the succeeding expeditions, 
we are not here particularly concerned, but in the ef- 
fect of these wars on western thought and consequently 
upon western practices we have a particular interest, 
when they are seen in relation to the new order of 
Chivalry, and to the general life expression of the 
twelfth and succeeding centuries of medisevalism. 
Many men consecrated their lives to these expeditions, 
first selling their estates to the middle classes for ready 
money. These tradesmen, thousands in number, in- 
creased the bourgeoisie and changed the balance of in- 
fluence from the nobles to the middle class; this state of 
things in turn reacted, raising the serfs to the former 
position of the middle class and assisting further to dis- 
place the old order. 

Experience in sea travel stimulated ship building. 
The crusaders saw life from another angle by virtue 
of their new associations. Their respect for science 
and literature was increased. Their ideas on agricul- 
ture and commerce were broadened, and their minds 
were filled with new conceptions and new expressions 
for old ones. They brought back new and strange 
12 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

clothes of fantastic and gorgeous patterns, gems and 
precious jewels, ornaments wrought in a curious man- 
ner, implements and garments strangely fashioned. 
All this and much more was added to the already well- 
established social expression of the period of Chivalry. 

A rapid development in manufactures increased the 
size of towns until the feudal estates gave place to them 
in power. During the reign of Louis VI (1108 to 1137) 
the first Charter of Communities was granted to Laon 
and Amiens. Other grants soon followed and thus 
autocratic power was moved from the feudal lord to 
the town community. This communal interest cre- 
ated in the minds of the masses a civic ideal, with com- 
mon aims, a pride in personal endeavour, soon manifest 
in the development of the Craft Guilds, and a desire for 
the fundamental liberties and privileges of citizenship 
never conceived under the feudal system. All this was 
a direct stimulus to the creative faculty of the time as 
well as a development of the ideal of civilization. Its 
effects were first seen in the number and style of eccles- 
iastical buildings that came into being during the 
next century. It was not long, however, before the 
creative impulse began to react on the new social order, 
until, by the first half of the thirteenth century, its 
results claimed a large share of attention from those who 
ruled and those who had grown rich through domestic 
trade, or commerce with the East and the Mediterran- 
ean countries. 

In the reign of Louis VII, the third quarter of the 
twelth century, a copy of the "Institutes," or the 
laws of Justinian, was discovered. This institution, 
simple in itself, soon changed the educational current 

13 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

in all Christendom. Universities sprang up, the study 
of law became a mania, and a new code of civil law dis- 
placed, or rather made over, the feudal laws, adding the 
imperial Roman idea of civil jurisprudence to the new 
phase of civilization. Formerly trial was by combat or 
appeals to God and finally to arms, but from this time 
pleaders and juries were appointed and a crude scale of 
punishment in proportion to the offence was estab- 
lished. These steps taken within a century — the birth 
of Chivalry, the Crusades, the Charter of Communities, 
and the revival of civil law — ^form the foundation upon 
which was matured the system known as Medisevalism. 

In the reign of Philip II (1180 to 1223) we find the de- 
velopment of these elements and their crystallization 
into an institution which really functioned. In fact 
Philip Augustus is said to have done for France what 
Caesar did for Rome. The narrow conventionalism 
and the rigid formalism of the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries gave way before the new order. 

We read that during the reign of Philippe tourna- 
ments were often given. Not only were the guests of 
noble origin, but there were crowds of troubadours 
with their instruments, minstrels, fools, jugglers, dan- 
cers, and other strange and amusing people. Booths 
and tents were raised around the castle gate and mer- 
chants of all sorts hastened thither with their wares 
of cloth-of-gold and silver, velvets and silks, stuffs of 
all kinds, ermine and other furs, silver cups, gold clasps, 
ornaments of great variety for lords and ladies, cutlery, 
armour, and embroidered articles of personal adorn- 
ment, as well as trifles for amusement. Flags, banners, 
pennants, and lovely tapestries hung and fluttered from 
14 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

the windows and balconies of the chateaux. These 
tournaments persisted, growing in number and gorgeous 
sumptuousness throughout the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries. 

The helmet worn at the close of the twelfth century- 
was a flat top steel one, with a steel hoop under the 
chin and a sort of grate over the face. When this was 
removed the knight put on a velvet cap the colour of 
which matched his garments. This was ornamented 
with jewels and the plumes were such that when the 
knights assembled on the battlefield nothing could 
equal the splendour of their costumes. Robes of bril- 
liant scarlet, ornaments of gold, silver, and precious 
stones, fine furs, the finest silks, the most costly armour, 
were theirs by law. Their gaily decked horses formed 
an inconceivable mass of splendour. Each knight was 
attended by his esquire and a troop of troubadours 
and fools decked in the most gorgeous finery. 

It is interesting to note that with all the huge chat- 
eaux, the wealth of gorgeous material, the sumptuous 
and luxurious ensemble of colour, pattern, and gems, 
domestic essentials and comforts of life were almost un- 
known. The rooms were large, with no ceiling but a 
vaulted roof. The sides were bare and decorated with 
armour, swords, helmets, battle-axes- and knives. 
Banners and tapestries were hung about, while the floor 
was covered thick with straw and rushes. Tables and 
benches were crude. Dining tables were covered with 
damask cloth and the place of each guest marked by a 
small loaf of bread covered by a napkin, a knife being 
sometimes placed with it. Forks were unknown, and 
before the twelfth century the girdle dagger was used 

15 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

in place of a knife. The dishes consisted of wooden 
platters, pewter trenchers, and silver drinking vessels 
done in fantastic designs. 

One writer has said: "In the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries when love was a duty, a universal thing, ladies 
were much more frank and open than they are now. 
They were all taught the apothecary's art, their duty 
being to nurse the wounded knight. No doubt this 
intercourse often led to mutual attachment, but it 
does not appear to have been abused by the chivalrous 
spirits of that romantic age." 

Literature was of course limited, few even of the 
nobles being able to read or write. 

It is related that Philip II on state occasions wore a 
wide tunic of purple silk confined at the waist by a 
golden girdle from which hung his sword. The neck 
and sleeves were tied with gold, while over his shoulders 
was flung a crimson mantle of silk lined with ermine. 
The train fell in ample folds upon the floor. On his 
head he wore a jewelled cap of crimson velvet, his long 
hair falling below his shoulders. 

The same authority tells us that the nobles, toward 
the close of the twelfth century were regally clothed. 
Their mantles were broader than in the preceding part 
of the century, their decorations were more magnificent 
and the stuff they wore much more gorgeous. The 
borders of the tunic and mantles were indented. They 
wore stockings with sandals of purple trimmed with gold, 
and they bandaged their legs. Their embroidered gloves 
had jewelled backs, and under the cap of velvet on their 
heads their hair, curled with crisping irons, hung, bound 
with ribbons, yet they wore beards and moustaches. 
16 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

In this reign women were less extravagant. Enor- 
mous cuffs were dropped, sleeves were made tight, 
terminating at the wrist. Green was the fashionable 
colour and robes were lined with sendal silk instead of 
fur, and were embroidered. A sort of veil was wrapped 
about the head and bound to the forehead by a jewelled 
fillet. Though shoes were worn, the robe was made so 
long that only the toes could be seen. 

Particular mention is made of the costumes in the 
reign of Philippe le Bel (1285 to 1314). One authority 
says: *'The costumes in the reign of Philippe le Bel were 
very graceful. Gentlemen, except in camps, wore 
long tunics and capes. Ladies wore a high tight bodice 
fitting the shape, and over it an open robe trimmed with 
gold or blue. The size of the cloak and robe, breadth 
of the trimming, and the number of stuffs each person 
was permitted to possess were regulated by law. The 
higher the rank, the greater the variety allowed, the 
larger the cloak and robe, and the broader their trim- 
mings. Hoods were universal, but their size and shape 
was not left to the caprice of their owners. The nobles 
wore large hoods hanging to their heels, the common 
people little sugar-loafed cowls." 

As we read these restrictions and regulations we are 
reminded of those devised by our Puritan New England 
ancestors in the seventeenth century, wheii the size of 
one's fortune and the percentage of it contributed to 
the church, determined the material of which his 
clothes might be made, as well as the kind and amount 
of lace permitted in their decoration. 

The ideals of medisevalism and the life which they 
inspired in France reached their highest development by 

17 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the end of the thirteenth century, when a gradual dis- 
integration set in, which by 1350 became well defined. 
This process was hastened by the Hundred Years' War, 
so that by the time France made peace, in 1453, medi- 
aeval ideals and practices were no longer operative. Al- 
ready unmistakable signs of the new order were mak- 
ing their appearance as they had a century or more 
earlier in Italy, in which country it was at this time 
definitely established. 

The last half of the fourteenth century contributed 
first a distinct change in military costumes. Romance, 
picturesqueness, and luxurious display gave place to 
heaviness, formality, and practicability. One writer 
has this to say of general conditions: "The city of Paris 
at this period was inferior in extent to many of the capi- 
tals of Europe. Only a few of the streets were paved. 
All were so narrow that not more than three could ride 
abreast in any of them, and every by-street was filled 
with ordure and filth which was never removed except 
when rain swept them into the Seine. The houses for 
the most part were mean wooden houses, but here and 
there towered amongst them some princely castle, 
magnificent abbey, or highly decorated church. The 
streets were filled with beggars of every class and con- 
dition." Petrarch, in writing of the fourteenth-century 
customs and manners of the French, says of their 
military life: "When you enter their company you 
might fancy yourself in a tavern. The soldiers are eat- 
ing, drinking, and revelling wholly without control. 
If a trumpet sounds the men obey or not just as they 
please, and resemble a flight of bees driven from the 
hive more than a disciplined army. They fight, not 
18 




EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. THE QUIET BUT DIGNI- 
FIED ASSURANCE OF THESE EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY PER- 
SONAGES, WITH THE SIMPLE, RHYTHMIC CHARM OF THEIR COSTUME 
DRAPERIES, VERY NEARLY APPROACHES THE SPIRITUAL QUALITY, 
THROUGH AN APPEAL TO THE .ESTHETIC SENSE. 





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MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

for love of country, but for vanity, money, or caprice." 
These quotations from contemporary writers give a 
fairly vivid picture of the decadence of spirit, and the 
lack of organization and concerted action in the first 
decades of the decline of mediseval idealism. 

The military costumes of this period were noble. 
A crested helmet was generally worn but in actual war- 
fare the visored basinet was used. A magnificent 
short close coat called a jupon, decorated with the arms 
of the wearer, and a gorgeous military belt formed 
the distinguishing garb of the period. By 1370 plated 
armour was general throughout the army, being 
adopted because it was of lighter weight than the 
chain mail armour of the preceding century. Various 
plate armours were designed for the limbs, feet, and 
arms. Leather gauntlets were worn the backs of which 
were covered by overlapping plates. 

The horse was armour covered, nothing being visible 
but his eyes and feet, and this armour plate was cov- 
ered with a housing of horse cloth gorgeously orna- 
mented with embroidery and sometimes precious stones. 
Of the following reign, that of Charles V (1364 to 1380), 
Brewer writes: "We can glean from contemporary his- 
torians and poets a pretty faithful picture of the man- 
ners and habits of the times. The king rose at six, 
attended matins at seven, dined at eleven, attended ves- 
pers at three, and retired to bed at sunset; and there is 
every reason to believe that these habits were in accord 
with the general habits of the day. 

"After matins the king gave advice. After dinner 
received his ministers, and after vespers devoted him- 
self to his family. He dined off one single dish, though 

19 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the well-to-do had three dishes for dinner. He dressed 
with very great simplicity in a long, dark-coloured cloak 
turned up with black velvet and confined around the 
waist by a rope girdle. Contrary to the customs of the 
times he wore neither sword, dagger, nor other distinc- 
tive marks of nobility. His only decoration was a small 
gold circlet of fleurs de lis around his black velvet 
cap." 

From the "Romance of the Rose" we gather much 
about general conditions and customs. In this poem 
the poet rebukes women for their arrogance and tells 
them that they should learn to return a salute even 
from subordinates. He says: *'They should not scam- 
per about the streets nor turn around and stare." 
He advises against peeping into private windows and 
says that ladies of rank should walk orderly and se- 
dately, particularly in going to church. 

He rebukes them especially for giggling and joking 
at mass and adds that such of them as can read should 
read their prayers and those who cared to should learn 
them by heart. He adjures them: "To keep their nails 
clean, not talk loud at dinner or indulge in horse laugh, 
and not to grease their fingers at meals." He further 
tells them to wipe their lips on the tablecloth but not 
their noses, even if it is the custom. He says: "Never 
steal nor tell wilful falsehoods." Men come in for 
their share of advice also. The poet speaks against big 
boots terminating in a point like a bird's bill and pro- 
truding in the back like a claw. He reminds them 
that a man is not a bird and asks why he should attempt 
to resemble one. 

Some phases of costume seem to have changed for 
20 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

the better. In the preceding quarter of the century 
gentlefolk had worn long robes with hoods hanging 
down their backs, but in this time both hood and robe 
were discarded, and men (particularly younger ones) 
wore short jackets perfectly fitting the figure; though, 
then as now, fashion changed from reign to reign and 
sometimes from season to season. 

Strange and grotesque fashions are quite likely to 
accompany or follow the perils and ravages of war. 
While severity and practicality dominate military 
changes, fantasy and grotesqueness generally influence 
social costumes. This period was no exception. Still 
further light is given us by one historian who, chron- 
icling the reign of Charles VII (1422 to 1461) in his de- 
scription of the costumes of women, says: "By far the 
most remarkable part of ladies' dress in this reign was 
their head gear which consisted of two horns like those 
of an ox, sometimes spread out for two feet or more 
on both sides of the head, sometimes towering up above 
it, and sometimes branching out obliquely but in all 
cases supporting a veil or curtain. Other ladies wore 
monster mitre hats, others sugar-loaf hoods with clus- 
ters of hair high over against the head dress shaped 
like a heart, and some few large Turkish turbans with 
the folds puffed out." The church raved bitterly 
Against these things and a popular preacher employed 
boys to chase the women in the streets, tearing off their 
horns and braying like an ass. The same authority 
says of men: "The sleeves were slashed at the shoulder 
and when a gentleman took a walk he tied his sleeves 
in a knot that he might not stumble over them. The 
hair was worn long. The hat was of cloth, very fantas- 

21 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

tic in shape, and decorated in front with a feather. 
The shoes were peaked extending six inches in front of 
the foot for common men, one foot for gentlemen, and 
two feet for noblemen. Trousers fitted tight and 
every gentleman wore a huge gold chain about his neck." 

Louis XI came to the throne in 1461 and died in 
1483. This reign marked the culmination of the medi- 
aeval ideal in France. The feudalism of the tenth 
and eleventh centuries, the reign of chivalry in the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the decline of 
the spirit of medisevalism in the fourteenth, was fol- 
owed by the gradual decay and death of the ideal, as 
mediaeval intelligence became effete, and its ideals were 
gradually superseded by the ideas and conceptions that 
had already become established facts in Italy. 

Feudalism and its practices in Italy had a distinctive 
local flavour, for in the sense of a modern state, 
mediaeval Italy did not exist. In the twelfth century it 
consisted of small towns entirely separate in their govern- 
ment and quite unlike in their domestic and social life. 
In the north there was a constant warfare between in- 
dividual barons, between the towns themselves, and 
between the empire and the church, not to mention 
invasions from the north and the invasion of the 
Saracens. This disturbed condition made anything 
like a crystallized social order in the tenth and eleventh 
centuries impossible. 

Mediaeval social life in Italy may be described as 
definitely set to religion. This was the land of the 
Popes, of St. Francis and St. Dominic, of Dante and of 
Savonarola; of the struggle of monasticism to depose 
the old Roman order, while it was subject to constant 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

filtering influences from the East. Here also took place 
the greatest struggles between the early developed 
monastic ideals of social life and the incipient conception 
of temporal political and social domination, at the 
same time that the gradually awakening consciousness 
of a classic origin led to the embrace of ideals and 
practices of the ancients, giving birth to the new order 
known as the Renaissance. All this made Italy of 
particular interest and gave to its art a variety and a 
local colour quite individual. 

The struggle between the established order of 
religious monastic domination and the new temporal 
political and social attitude came to the front with the 
appearance of Federico Barbarossa in 1152. He was 
the exponent of the new conception of chivalry as it 
was then visioned in Italy. By 1167, with the founding 
of the "Lombard League," a more stable basis for 
society was established and through Henry VI (1190 
to 1197) the power of the empire was shifted from 
Germany to Italy. With the Pope definitely assigned 
to spiritual domination only, the foundation for a more 
united Italy seemed about to be laid. Henry died in 
1197, however, and the great Innocent III ascended the 
papal throne in 1198. His legacy to Italy was its 
partition between the Church and the Empire. Thus 
the scene was set by him for the wonderful'development 
of social Italy in the thirteenth century. 

As in France so in Italy, the first and prime considera- 
tion of life was self preservation, consequently the 
design of the house and clothes had reference before 
everything to this requirement. A second and very 
important factor was the selection of only such person- 

23 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

all things as could be easily cared for and easily 
moved in case of flight for safety. The increasing use of 
colour, fine stuffs, and other material in church ritual, 
with the quickened imagination of the eleventh century 
and the tendency toward a more stabilized condition 
in the twelfth century, each contributed its part toward 
determining the kind and quality of materials used in 
the social life expression. 

Essentially committed to a religious scenario a very 
decided ecclesiastic influence was naturally exerted 
over the style of costumes, the materials out of which 
they were made, and the manner in which they were 
worn. The nearness of Italy to the Orient, intimate 
relations with the Byzantine Church, and the natural 
love of the Latin for pageant display, also contributed 
something to the choice and use which distinguished 
mediaeval costume in Italy. 

That a conscious connection may exist in our minds 
between this particular religious monastic social ideal 
with its many influencing ramifications, and the social 
art which resulted, and that we may feel keenly the 
closeness of relation between the house, clothes and the 
ideals of life prevalent at the time, let us examine the 
documents relating to these matters as they appeared in 
the thirteenth century. 

Sedgwick, in his "Italy in the Thirteenth Century," 
says: "The great square was the centre of town life. 
Upon it fronted the cathedral, the bishop's palace, the 
baptistery, the town hall perhaps, and the houses of 
eminent families. The square itself was the real home 
of people whom blue skies urged out of doors; it was 
the unroofed family room for the whole city. There 
24 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

tournaments were held, candidates for knighthood 
exercised their hospitahtes, singers, ballad-mongers, 
mountebanks exhibited their accomplishments, friars 
preached, pedlars cried their wares, heralds trumpeted 
and shouted their proclamations, hucksters chaffered, 
young men and boys played their games, trainbands 
drilled, the general council of citizens assembled, 
children romped and made mud pies; altogether, 
knights in armour, prelates in vestments, public 
messengers in red jackets, heralds on horseback, friars in 
corded smocks, merchants in robes, shopkeepers in 
leathern jackets, artisans in jerkin and hose, rich 
women clad in scarlet cloth, poor women in green, 
young women with fillets round their heads, mothers 
with swaddled babies on their backs, horses, mules, 
asses, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, and pigs, with 
bells clanging and all the population talking at once, 
must have been a very gay and jolly scene. 

"The piazza was also a great public school. There 
the people met every day, bargained, haggled, disputed, 
discussed, listened to monks, pilgrims, or troubadours 
from afar, heard the news of the Pope, of the Emperor, 
of Ezzelino da Romano, of Bro. Elias, and argued on 
this side or on that. It was the debating forum, the 
assembly room, the outdoor club, for all the citizens. 
There they rubbed off the rudeness of earlier times, and 
acquired a quickness of wit, a readiness of speech, and 
an ingenuity that distinguished them broadly from the 
country folk. The piazza ranks with the guilds as a 
factor in the development of Italian civilization." 

In speaking particularly of clothes in the same 
century he says: "Fashionable women wore fine linen, 

25 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

silks, and brocades, trinkets of silver and gold, jewellery 
of all sorts, trimmings and gewgaws. Their gowns were 
cut low in the neck, to the scandal of the austere; they 
wore false hair and painted and powdered to a most 
reprehensible degree; they laced and they fasted in 
order to make their figures fashionably slim." 

The Church discountenanced this extravagance and 
did what she could to stop it. Pope Gregory X., for in- 
stance, bade women give up pearls, ornaments of feath- 
ers, and gold and silver fringe, during Lent. Cardinal 
Latino, sent by Nicholas III as legate to Lombardy and 
Romagna, went still further. Brother Salimbene gives 
an account of his attempts at reform: "He disturbed 
all the women by a set of regulations that women should 
wear dresses only to the ground or barely a hands- 
breadth longer. And the legate had these regulations 
proclaimed in the churches and bade the women obey, 
under injunction that, unless they did, no priest should 
absolve them; and this was bitterer to the women than 
any death. One woman said familiarly to me, ' that her 
train was dearer to her than any other garment she had 
on.' And, besides, Cardinal Latino in the same regula- 
tions bade all women — girls, young ladies, married 
women, widows, matrons, — ^wear veils of linen and silk, 
shot with a gold thread, in which they appeared ten 
times better-looking, and drew the eyes of those that 
saw them still more towards wanton thoughts." 

Concerning the growth of extravagance he says: 
"With the increase of wealth, comforts and luxuries 
increased, and instead of ministering only to the 
pleasure of a few nobles, spread to the upper mercantile 
class. It is hard to tell how great this increase was.^ 
26 









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EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. MEDIJ5VAL CHIVALRY 
IN SOCIAL LIFE IS HERE INTERPRETED THROUGH GOTHIC MIND, 
RESULTING IN A QUAINT DECORATIVE ENSEMBLE WITH ROMANTIC 
PERSONS AND NAIVE COSTUMES, SHOWING FASHION's EARLY POWER, 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

Dante, ViUani, Riccobaldl of Ferrara, and Bro. Francis 
Pipin have left pictures of what they beUeved to be the 
simple, plain, sober, and virtuous mode of life of earlier 
generations." This may perhaps be taken with a grain 
of salt since one is likely in retrospection of this kind to 
find contrasts with his own times favourable to the 
idea which he desires to maintain. 

Perhaps a fairly good idea of the social setting of the 
castle home in the thirteenth century may be obtained 
from Boulting's description in his book called ''Woman 
in Italy." "What kind of a home would the young 
bride be taken to .^^ " he asks. " In the thirteenth century 
a maiden of rank would ride to some grim fortress, 
perched like an aerie high up on a mountain-spur. She 
would be admitted through a massive gateway, cross a 
courtyard with a well at its centre, and enter a great low 
hall, furnished with a huge table and benches covered 
with coarse cloth; if it were winter enormous logs would 
be a-blazing in the open fireplace; if night, torches would 
flame in their cressets and fill the room with smoke; the 
table might, if the castle belonged to a wealthy noble, 
be set with a few silver-gilt utensils holding painted 
candles, and there might be a few beakers of precious 
metal. Narrow, deep-set windows would be closed 
with oiled linen to keep out rain and draught, and by 
day a doubtful light would strive to penetrate the 
room. Around, storied arras would tell of Arthur and 
his round-table or of the great fight at Roncesvalles, or 
there might be strange tapestries brought from Egypt. 
Baked meats would be pushed through holes in the 
wall from the adjoining kitchen at meal times." 

As early as 1250 we find a Genoese artist employed in 

27 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

that city to paint the walls of a room with red roses on a 
white ground and white roses on a red ground — a 
mode of adornment probably copied from those mural 
paintings of Roman villas which still remain so fresh. 
The instinct for flowered wall coverings seems to have 
made its appearance early; "Art," however, only began 
to be generally employed in the decoration of the home 
in the fifteenth century and, for long, masterpieces were 
only to be found in churches and public buildings. Bare 
spaces on the walls were sometimes covered with neatly 
written quotations and mottoes, the hall, however, was 
by that time adorned with arabesques or frescoes. By 
the end of the thirteenth century the castle would have 
been modernized or rebuilt; part of the year was always 
spent in the city, and the country castle was only used 
in ''villegiatura," except in Piedmont, where the nobility 
despised town-life. Feudal days were over and re- 
tainers no longer lodged in the castle which was, there- 
fore, of very modest dimensions. The rude furniture 
of former times had given way to things of great ele- 
gance but not a whit more comfortable. 

We read that in 1285 a certain fine house at Bologna 
contained for furniture, "one coffer, one walnut wood 
copper pot, a wine press, a vessel for wine, a quilt, a 
bolster, two sheets and an alcove bed." In 1297 an 
inventory of the entire possessions of a man named 
Gabo was given to a Sienese court. There are enu- 
merated a barrel, a frying pan, three wine sacks, an 
iron tripod, a deep cooking pot, three bowls, a dish, 
two measures, two baskets, a pan for carrying bread, 
four knives, three daggers, a staff, a bow and arrows, 
a chequer board, two chests for papers, nine mattresses, 
28 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

eight sets of books, a shaker iron, two linen cloths, two 
fancy quilts, two straw beds, with tripods, seven 
straw beds, six trays of tripods, three bolsters, one pair 
of linen sheets." A strange medley of furniture and 
furnishings for the house of a gentleman, certainly. The 
rapid increase of wealth, however, in the early four- 
teenth century was accompanied by a somewhat rising 
standard of comfort and luxury, particularly when 
feuds became less frequent, society more stablilized, 
and the danger of losing one's possessions by exile, 
theft, or arson diminished. Giovanni de' Mucci writing 
in 1388 says that in 1320 a cooking fire was made in the 
room and everybody stood around it for warmth in 
winter, and in 1368 the same practice obtained in Rome. 
Haywood tells us these fireplaces did not come into 
general use for a long time. 

The same attention to good manners seems to have 
been paid by the clergy of Italy as by those of France, 
in the fourteenth century. Era Bonvicino in 1290 urges 
the wiping of the mouth with the table cloth after 
drinking, and suggests that "those who would be 
deemed well bred should not make a noise when they 
use a spoon in company, nor blow the nose without us- 
ing a cloth, or lick nor blow on the fingers, nor re- 
mark on the cooking of the food. Also they will wash 
the hands a little after each meal to take off the grease." 
Table napkins came into use in the fourteenth century. 
Boulting further tells us that: "In the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries the habits of a citizen's household 
were very simple, and his wife usually dispensed with 
the luxury of a servant. Agnello of Pisa, who could 
afford to pay 30,000 florins for troops to capture the 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

city for him, kept one young servant-girl only. Ser 
Lapo Mazzei, the notary, had none, and his wife had to 
mend her boy's hose, even when she was not well. In 
1378 we find wealthy Francesco Rinuccini of Florence 
and his family of six sons, one daughter, three daughters- 
in-law and four grandsons^ — ^four families, therefore — 
dwelling under one roof, served by two maids, a wet 
nurse and a waiting maid, and a gardener, who lived out 
of the house with his wife and son; there were eight 
horses to attend to also." 

It seems the farms and processes of civilization were 
much the same in France as in Italy, but France was 
fully a century behind Italy in development and each 
had its own well defined national, or rather individual, 
characteristics, giving flavour and sometimes amuse- 
ment to the process and the results. 

Odom in his "History of Italian Furniture" quotes an 
authority writing in the time of Dante who states 
that: "In the last half of the thirteenth century the 
manners of the Italians were rude. A man and his 
wife ate off the same plate. The clothes of men were of 
leather. Scarcely any gold or silver was seen on their 
dress. The portions of women were small, and their 
dress even after marriage was simple." And then he 
continues: "In the early fourteenth century frugality 
has been changed to sumptuousness. Everything ex- 
quisite is sought after in dress, gold, silver, pearls, silks, 
and rich furs." This description is confirmed by 
Hallam and by other testimony of nearly the same 
date. 

The conquest of Naples by Charles of Anjou in 1266 
seems to have marked the beginning of a period of in- 
30 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

creasing luxury throughout Italy. First, provengal 
knights with their plumes, helmets, and golden collars; 
their chariots, the furnishings of which were covered 
with blue velvet and sprinkled with lilies of gold, aston- 
ished the citizens of Naples. Provence had enjoyed a 
long tranquillity, the natural source of luxurious mag- 
nificence, and Italy, now liberated from the yoke of her 
enemies, soon reaped the harvest of a condition easier 
and more peaceful than had been her lot for several 
centuries. 

Extravagance became so universal and the railings of 
the church against inordinate display so vociferous, that 
certain statutes, called Sumptuary Laws, were passed to 
curb the ostentatious display of the newly rich. These 
laws, partly clerical and partly secular, united to make 
all comfort as well as luxury odious in the eyes of the 
world. France and England during the fourteenth 
century extended these laws to the table as well as to 
apparel. Hallam writes that sumptuary laws in France 
were as old as Charlemagne and that "these attempts 
to restrain what cannot be restrained continued even 
down to 1700." We might add they have continued 
ever since in one form or another, under the name of 
radical propaganda, welfare work, social uplift, and the 
like, each and all of which seem to be about as success- 
ful in regulating human emotional display as were their 
forerunners, the Sumptuary Laws, early in the four- 
teenth century. 

Mediaeval France was the cradle of civilization as it 
was expressed in terms of the polite amenities of life. 
Here it was that the social system of Chivalry flourished 
in its finest form, and bred the courteous manners and 

31 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

attention to details of etiquette which became a part of 
French consciousness in the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries, and which, despite the vicissitudes of the 
centuries following, never lost their place in what we 
know as the French mind expressed in social life. How 
civilized nations have since sought to imitate the 
French social ideals needs simply to be recalled. 

Appearance was the important thing, involving ro- 
mance and even luxury as they appealed to the senses, 
comfort being secondary. It was not until the 
eighteenth century that there seemed to be an awakening 
to the possibilites of the house as a place to live in, and 
even then from the Anglo-Saxon point of view it lacked 
much in this regard. 

Mediaeval Italy, too, true to its Roman traditions, 
particularly in the central part and the south, conceived 
the house first as a fortress, then a monument, and 
later as a ponderous setting for the spectacular per- 
formance of the necessary duties attendant upon semi- 
public life, rather than as a comfortable, useful, 
domestic environment, in which to develop the home 
life ideal. 

This ideal was England's contribution to civilization 
and it was the function of the English mediaeval mind to 
organize it and establish an order that is yet operative 
and that still constitutes the backbone of the Anglo- 
Saxon social order as we know it. 

This must not be understood as minimizing in the 
slightest degree the home ideals of either France or 
Italy, but rather as pointing out how they differ from 
those of England, and how this difference affected the 
development of the house as a stage for the play of 
32 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

social life, and in turn reacted on the costumes of the 
time, necessary for staging the play successfully. 

In contrasting the point of view in France from that 
of England in the twelfth century it is interesting to 
study the conditions of the institution of Chivalry in the 
reign of Stephen about the middle of the century. 
Turner in his history of England in the Middle Ages 
quotes John of Salisbury on the qualifications and 
training of a knight in Chivalry, as follows: *'They 
must learn from the beginning to labour alone, carry 
weights, and bear the sun and dust; to use sparing and 
rustic food, and live in the open air, and sometimes in 
tents, and thus to practice to use of arms." A different 
picture surely from that of the training for knighthood 
in France; and he helps us to see why England was 
slow to accept the gentle arts of politeness and courtesy, 
and why the costumes of the English people were, like 
their manners, made of sterner stuff in a more practical 
style and less charming in detail. Where these gentle 
arts appeared in social life they were modified greatly 
by the changed attitude of the people toward religion, 
politics, and the social system. 

Perhaps it is only fair at this point to quote what 
one writer has said in regard to the tendency toward 
effeminacy in knighthood during the reign of Henry II, 
at which time he says this order was beginning to 
degenerate. In his criticism he says: "The true merit 
of a knight is to fight well, to conduct a troop well, to do 
his excercise well, to be well armed, to ride his horse 
well, to present himself with good grace at court, and to 
render himself agreeable," and he adds, "Seldom are 
all these qualities united." This seems quite in keeping 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

when we consider that the courteous elegancies of 
social life at court would not be compatible with a 
people in a half civilized state leading a strict and vigor- 
ous life. In contrasting this standard of true merit 
with the state of things after this eflfeminate tendency 
became manifest, he writes: "Some say that military 
glory consists in this, that they shine in elegant dress, 
that they make their clothes tight to their bodies, and so 
bind on their linen or silken garments as to seem a skin 
colour like their flesh. If they are sitting softly on their 
ambling horses they think themselves so many Apollos, 
but if you make an army of them you will have a com- 
pany of Thais not of Hannibal. Each is politest in the 
banquet hall but in the battle everyone desires to be the 
last. When they return home without a scar they sing 
triumphantly of their battles and boast of the thousand 
deaths that were in their temples face. They have the 
first place at supper, they feast every day splendidly 
but shun exercises like a dog." 

The Norman Conquest found England, in 1066, a land 
of rugged, unprepared, domestic, half-civilized people 
committed to the soil, satisfied in their prospects of 
life and happiness, but undeveloped, as a natural result 
of their isolation. 

They were a gentle, simple people, essentially do- 
mestic in their ideals and particularly devoted to 
isolated family life. In the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries the homes of the masses were generally built of 
wood, in a crude style. The manor house was little 
better, but these and nobler dwellings were entirely 
unfortified, and so bespoke respect for a man's right to 
life and goods, not found elsewhere. The essential ele- 
34 




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EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. MEDIE- 
VAL SPIRITUAL SYMBOLISM EXPRESSED THROUGH 
MOTHER AND CHILD. COSTUMES CONCEIVED IN THE 
SAME CONSCIOUS SPIRIT, WITH NATIVE FEELING FOR 
DECORATIVE DESIGN ALSO OPERATIVE. 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

ment is the Anglo-Saxon attitude to his domestic life, 
and the rights of his neighbour to enjoy the same. 

The story of the change wrought in a century need 
not be recounted, but the effect of the new ideals was 
manifest in the cold, dismal, forbidding stone castle 
which became the home of the newly established 
barons; in the gradual separation of the classes as their 
life in the castle, in the manor house, in the cottage, or 
in the hut became established facts and determined the 
character of the material in which the life of mediaeval 
England was to be set, dictating largely what the cos- 
tumes should be in this new social experience. 

Sparrow, in his new book, *'The English House," 
writes: "Of course an Anglo-Saxon 'house-place' had 
its own shortcomings; it looked unkempt like peasant 
cottages as late as the fourteenth century, but it was a 
home in which yeomen and peasants evolved their own 
ideals, and from which they would not budge. Even 
in towns, where efforts were made to restrain them, 
people kept resolutely to the slow development of old 
wooden sheds and halls; and it is also worth noting that 
timberwork of the twelfth century appears to have been 
in essentials what it was a hundred years later, during 
the long reign of Henry III. 

"A yeoman's sleeping-room under the thatched roof 
was entered by a ladder, or rude staircase,' as a rule in- 
side the hall; but sometimes it may have been put out- 
side, and protected from the wet by a timber awning. 
The furniture was very simple — a few benches and a 
chest or two, some wooden platters, and a tripod for 
cooking purposes. The walls seem to have been 
coloured with archil and whitewash, and along them on 

35 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

wooden pegs some farm implements dangled. The floor 
was littered with dirty grass and rushes, a bacon-rack 
swung from the roof-beams, a fire crackled on a hob of 
clay at some distance from the fragile walls, and wood and 
peat smoke disinfected an atmosphere which was ever 
tainted, and drove away some of the innumerable vermin. 
Chimneys were unknown, except in castles and in manor- 
houses." He also relates that clothing was usually 
home-made and not thick enough to keep out the cold. 

In studying the English type we need to consider how 
early and in what way, as compared with other 
European countries, the people began to recognize the 
necessity for comfort and convenience. 

In 1189 a set of building rules, known as the "Assize" 
was compiled, a remote forerunner of the building laws 
of our day. Among other things it provided that a stone 
wall of a certain thickness be built between adjacent 
houses on the city street, and it must be of a prescribed 
height; the drainage on either side was also regulated. 

In 1212 ordinances were passed prescribing the kind 
of roofs houses might have, and with what they should 
be covered. Wages were fixed by law and city officials 
might destroy the houses of those who failed to provide 
against fire or neglected the sanitary laws. 

Consider, if you will, this view of the Anglo-Saxon 
mind and compare it with what seemed to be the es- 
sential character of the French or Italian ideals of the 
same century. It is easy to see how different the re- 
sults of their efforts would be, expressed in terms of art. 

On the other hand, into this Anglo-Saxon ideal was 
poured that of the Norman baron of the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries, whose idea of a house was a de^ 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 

fence monument built to his strength and glory. His 
ideal differed from that of Italy in that defence was his 
first thought, and so his monument meant strength 
and an impregnable retreat built to awe by its appear- 
ance, while in Italy the aesthetic side of the monument, 
even in the thirteenth century, was as important, and 
more so, than the defence aspect; for the Italian, never 
losing consciousness of his Roman heritage aimed, in 
building, at beauty and grandeur as well as utility. 

"A Norman castle was the negation of comfort and 
convenience," writes Sparrow, and he adds: "There is 
something cowardly and ignoble in the look of a feudal 
castle, something that invites contempt, because the 
very men who called themselves warriors, and who from 
the age of seven were taught to be brave as soldiers, 
were yet so afraid to be killed that they feared to let 
in the light of day to their rooms, lest arrows should 
enter by the same windows as the necessary sun. Near 
the ground windows were forbidden, and those high 
up the walls were little better than the slits that venti- 
lated barns and kept hay from sweating itself into a 
fever. Indoors, where a fitful dusk lasted all day long 
from dawn to sunset, the seneschal lived on the second 
and third stories, always distressed by bad ventilation. 
Between him and the outside air was a wall from twelve 
to fourteen feet in thickness, a thing most wonderfully 
at odds with any danger which could threaten it during 
a time of siege." Not a pleasant picture of domestic 
comfort or happiness surely, and in no way akin to the 
idea of the Saxon. 

The rooms were so few in number and the conven- 
iences for keeping clothes so limited that luxury, except 

37 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

as it related to military display, found little place in 
thirteenth century costumes. We are told of coarse, 
woollen cloth used in the habits of the middle classes, and 
even the barons did not scorn to wear it. Heavy velvets 
brought from the East and a heavy silk damask, partic- 
ularly in green with gold, are frequently mentioned in de- 
scriptions of the great ladies of the thirteenth century. 

In considering the costumes we must remember the 
vigorous climate of England and what that meant in 
the development of mediaeval art. It was not until 
well past the middle of the fourteenth century that 
fireplaces with chimneys came into general use, even 
among the barons. In medieval days the fire was 
made in the centre of the great hall. By it the family 
warmed themselves, upon it food was cooked; and al- 
though there was a flue in the roof constructed so that 
the smoke might escape, much of it was forced to remain 
in the room, which, one writer assures us, "was ruinous 
to the clothes of the fair sex who even in these days 
desired to wear clothes made of fine stuffs like velvet, 
which was not compatible with the conditions pro- 
duced by the fire smoke and vermin." 

No less insistent, it seems, were the vanities, among 
mediaeval ladies, however, than among their more mod- 
ern sisters, but the road to their satisfaction was a bit 
more diflScult in the earlier period. The clergy led 
the satirists and purists in an onslaught against the up- 
rising of primitive instincts, against this "vanity of 
soul," but even they had their own trials among their 
immediate families, for we find St. Bernard thus be- 
rating his sister, who was paying him a friendly visit, 
arrayed in "richest clothing with pearls and precious 
38 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

stones." "Suster, yet ye love youre bodi by reson 
ye shuid beter love youre soule : wene ye not that ye dis- 
please God and his aungels to see in you suche pompe 
and pride to adorn suche a carion as is youre body. 
. . . Whi thenke ye not that the pore peple that 
deyen for hungir and colde, that for the sixte part of 
youre gay arraye XI persones might be clothed, re- 
freshed, and kepte from the colde?" 

St. Edith, daughter of King Edgar, evidently less 
meek than her sisters, when upbraided by her brother 
for her "sin of pride" stingingly replied: "God's doom, 
that may not fail, is pleased only with conscience. 
Therefore I trow that as clean a soul may be under 
those clothes that are arrayed with gold as under thy 
slight fur-skins." 

During the long reign of Henry III (1217 to 1272) 
much was done for domestic environment, although 
progress seems to have been stayed by his death. He 
consulted with Italian architects, thus tending to ele- 
vate taste in architecture, and he may be termed the 
first real patron of art in England as it related to such 
domestic expression as the house and costume. In the 
first place he was passionately fond of colour and 
through his example brought into England's cold and 
cheerless climate a healthy and more exhilarating at- 
mosphere. He loved polychrome effects," particularly 
gold with green, and gold stars on purple. The Tower 
of London cast a gloom upon him so he ordered that 
the walls of the queen's chamber should be painted with 
flowers. This clue is important in tracing the beginning 
of frescoed walls in England, and the feminine touch in 
decoration as it was afterward expressed in the house. 

39 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

England was swarming with Italian priests who were 
steeped in polychrome and who sought a chance to 
make money and achieve fame by distributing colour 
decorations which soon became fashionable and readily 
found their way into the permanent household posses- 
sions of the lords. Panelled rooms came into vogue 
and painted friezes were a part of the decoration, mostly 
religious in significance, although occasionally showing 
traces of Greek and Roman influence, probably intro- 
duced unconsciously for the most part. 

Amidst all this we remember, however, that the floors 
were still of earth or stone, that ''rushes and reeds and 
green fodder covered the floors, that bones and other 
refuse was daily mixed with the rushes, and that it 
was not till the fifteenth century that carpets of any 
kind became well known." 

Naturally woollen cloth was the most suitable for 
general use in mediaeval England and she, with her 
ever-present commercial foresight, showed her appre- 
ciation of this fact. "The thirteenth century writer," 
says Hallam, in his *' State of Europe," "asserts that 
all the world was clothed from English wool wrought 
in Flanders." One historian avers that mediaeval 
lords and ladies put little money on their floors, but 
much more upon their backs, and then goes on to tell 
how the heavy woollen robes gave place to velvet ones, 
the sleeves sometimes lined with silk, sometimes with 
fur, while in some cases they were embroidered with 
jewels. The church attacked this "vain and inglorious 
thing" but among the laymen lavishness was said to 
threaten ruin to the finances of those whose wives were 
committing these extravagances. 
40 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

At the end of the thirteenth century in England we 
find that the knights, clothed always in heavy armour 
during the day, discarded their burden at night and put 
on a loose robe of cloth (generally of wool). In bad 
weather or when it was very cold a loose coat was worn 
over this, which reached to the waist and was made with 
loose sleeves and a big hood. This also was of coarse 
cloth as a rule but in a few cases "an imported stuff 
from the East" was seen. Out of doors they wore a 
soft hat, and their shoes were long and peaked. 

We read of women who followed this ideal of com- 
fort — an undergown, very long, full and loose at the 
waist had sleeves which were tight, and buttoned from 
the elbow to the wrist. The upper, or outer gown was 
fastened in the back, fitting the figure roughly, and the 
train was very long. Around the throat was worn a 
white linen cloth called a gorget, which was pulled up at 
the sides and attached to wads of hair over each ear; a 
protection from the cold, perhaps, but an ugly ar- 
rangement, not in line with the comfort we read that 
they sought in their fashions. An interesting example 
of the costume of this time is seen in the efiigy of Queen 
Eleanor which is in Westminster Abbey. 

The women, all in loose tunics and gowns, loose coats, 
hoods and wimples, brightly coloured and homely, 
made a background on pageant days for the few excep- 
tions to the general plainness, for at Kenilworth we 
hear of one hundred lords and ladies, everyone clothed 
in silk, seated at the table at once, though geographical 
conditions, the mental attitude of domesticity, the war- 
like strain of chivalry and many other contributing 
causes prevented the development in England of cos- 

41 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

tumes as gorgeous as those found almost commonly in 
France and Italy. 

There seems to have been very little commerce be- 
tween England and southern Europe or the East until 
the early part of the fourteenth century, although Italy 
began to make silk at Palermo in 1148. This accounts 
in part for the lack of velvet and other fine stuffs in ear- 
lier centuries with the exception of the little that found 
its way through the crusaders and through small pri- 
vate enterprise. 

Hallam says that "throughout the fourteenth century 
there continued to be a rapid but steady progress in 
England of what we may denominate elegance, im- 
provement, or luxury, just before the breaking of the 
English wars." He states that an expanding fondness 
for dress was not confined to the higher ranks of the 
burghers, whose foolish emulations at least indicated 
their circumstances; then he calls attention to the fact 
that "dress does not deserve his particular account, but 
it does show the universal prevalence of great wealth 
widely diffused," and he begs us to remember the in- 
vectives bestowed by the clergy on the fantastic ex- 
travagance of fashion. Verily people are always the 
same, with the same impulses, the same vanities, the 
same hypocricies and the same absurdities. The 
mediaeval woman fared no better and probably did no 
worse than her sister of to-day, individual manifesta- 
tions in costume were a little different, that is all. 

We read of a knight, near the end of the fourteenth 
century, attempting to discourage his daughters from 
the "superfluity of dress" by telling them of another 
knight who went to a certain hermit-saint to ascertain 
42 




MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. A SPIRITUAL CONCEPT 
CLOTHED AND SET WITH GOTHIC TASTE, IN WHICH THE ROYAL 
IDEA OF DIVINE MATERNITY IS A FEATURE OF THE ILLUSTRA- 
IJION, INSTEAD OF THE POVERTY OF THE MANGER. 



MEDIiEVAL EUROPE 

if the soul of his wife, who had recently died, was surely 
saved. " The hermit, after many prayers, dreamed that 
he saw Seint Michelle & the develle that had her in a 
balaunce, & alle her good dedes in the same balaunce, 
& a develle & alle her evelle dedes in that other bal- 
aunce. & the most that grevid her was her good & gay 
clothing, & furres of gray menivere & letuse; & the 
develle cried & saide, Seint Michelle, this woman had 
tenne diverse gownes & as mani cotes; & thou wost 
welle lesse myghte have suflBsed her after the lawe of 
God; . . . & he toke all her juellys & rynges. . . . 
& caste hem in the balaunce with her evelle dedes. The 
evelle dedes passed the good, & weyed downe & over- 
came her good dedes. & there the develle toke her, & 
bare her away, & putte her clothes & aray brennyng in 
the flawme on her with the fire of helle, & kist her doune 
into the pitte of helle; ... & the pore soul cried, 
& made moche sorughe & pite . . . but it boted 
not." 

By 1325 the men had dropped their loose garments 
and we find them in " cotehardies," something very like 
a vest, made of silk. The hood was lengthened to a 
peak touching the ground and fashion busied herself 
trying to invent new ways to wind this about the head 
and body in a decorative way. 

About this time appeared the mode oL dividing the 
body in halves vertically by using entirely different 
colours; belts also came into general use and hats were 
trimmed with fur. 

While the men made all these changes we learn 
that there was practically no alteration in the costumes 
of women. There were three parts to the dress: an 

43 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

under-gown, loose and made with a very long train; a 
short over-dress, to the knees, had short wide sleeves 
and was full skirted ; thrown over all this was a kind of 
sureoat, like a man's, with cut out holes for the arms. 
On the head was worn a wimple and about the neck a 
gorget. It is curious that for half a century Dame 
Fashion seems to have played with the fancies of these 
austere male "barbarians" and left the ladies uncor- 
rupted, for toward the end of the century we see men 
still following the general vogue. " Nearly every man," 
we read, "is alike in one respect, is clean shaven, with 
long hair to his neck, curled at his ears and on the fore- 
head. Round the hips of every man is a leather belt 
from which hangs a purse." The knights of this time 
are described as all wearing parti-coloured clothes, 
striped vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, and all 
in velvet, silk, and woollen stuffs. 

Finally the women fell, for in 1400 we find this de- 
scription: "If ever women were led by the nose by the 
demon fashion it was at this time. Not only were their 
clothes ill-suited to them, but they abused their crowning 
glory, their hair." 

Evidently the gay knight kept the lead, however, for 
at the end of the first quarter of the fifteenth century 
the same authority writes: "Still, among all these gen- 
tlemen, clothed, as it were secondhand, we have the 
fine fellow, the dandy — ^he to whom dress is a religion, 
to whom stuffs are sonnets, cuts are lyrical, and tailors 
are the poets of their age. Such a man will have his 
tunic neatly pleated, rejecting the chance folds of the 
easy -fitting houppelande, the folds of which were deter- 
mined by the buckling of the belt. His folds will be 
44 



MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 

regular and precise, his collar will be very stiff, with a 
rolled top; his shoes will match his hose, and be of two 
colours; his turban hat will be cocked at a jaunty angle; 
his sleeves will be of a monstrous length and width. 
He will hang a chain about his neck, and load his fingers 
with rings. A fellow to him, one of his own kidney, 
will wear the skirt of his tunic a little longer, and will 
cause it to be cut up the middle; his sleeves will not be 
pendant, like drooping wings, but will be swollen like 
full-blown bagpipes. An inner sleeve, very finely em- 
broidered, will peep under the upper cuff. His collar 
is cropped in the new manner, like a priest's without a 
tonsure; his hat is of the queer sugar-bag shape, and it 
flops in a drowsy elegance over the stuffed brim. As 
for his shoes, they are two fingers long beyond his toes." 

After all, even in England, fundamental human 
impulses seem to have been active; the same vanities 
and illusions abounded, while the male sex appears to 
have been first to show pride in brilliant plumage, and 
to have succeeded in exploiting it, the only difference 
between this phase of costume expression and that of 
Italy and France being due to the quality of the aes- 
thetic sense, the materials attainable, geographic 
position and restricted cultural development. 

In writing of mediaeval Europe one historian de- 
clares that " No other country [speaking of Italy] could 
exhibit so fair a picture of middle life. In France the 
burghers and even the inferior gentry were in a state 
of poverty at this period, which they concealed by an 
affectation of ornament leading to display. Our Eng- 
lish yeomanry and tradesmen were more anxious to in- 
vigorate their bodies by a generous diet than to dwell 

45 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

in well-furnished houses or to find comfort in cleanliness 
or elegance." And this as late as 1400. Fi-om such 
accounts it would appear that Italy, "fair and brilliant " 
to the end, even in the mediaeval period developed a 
somewhat democratic attitude to the arts, which a 
century later had so affected the thoughts and lives 
of the people that it was said that "no ugly thing was 
created even in the humblest form or of the coarsest 
material." 

It seems also that France, torn by war and discour- 
aged with domestic problems, was true to form and 
sought to convey the impression of decorative appear- 
ance whatever the conditions might be under the 
surface, while England saw as clearly as ever the part 
played by good diet, and was no less cognizant of the 
presence of the material body and the necessity that it 
be well made, than she is now or ever has been. 

By 1400 the hour of mediaeval life had struck, and 
consequently of mediaeval art. Its shadow lingered 
for near a century in the west but the expression was 
abnormal, for it was insincere. The spirit was dead 
and the body, robbed of its soul, refused to function 
and began slowly to crumble away. 

In Italy a new soul was already born, and a new body 
quickly made its appearance. Into France and into 
England this new spirit gradually made its way in the 
last half of the century and, raising its voice amidst 
the ruin of Europe's mediaeval ideals, bade the people 
awake to hear the message of a new order and to create 
anew in its image and likeness. This struggle of the 
new spirit for recognition, appreciation, and expression 
is the history of the Renaissance. 
46 



CHAPTER TWO 

THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

IF Medisevalism was an institution the Renaissance 
was certainly no less one. In truth it was more in the 
nature of its elements and in the complexity of its ap- 
plication that it differed from the system that it dis- 
placed, than it was in its general aims or its function. 
It had its own beliefs, ideals, and practices, its own 
particular focal thought around which the life of the 
period was built, and out of this grew an art expression 
which may justly be called the beginning of modern 
art, as the institution itself was the beginning of mod- 
ern civilization. 

Medisevalism was dead at the dawn of the fourteenth 
century; its ideals were shattered, its practices out- 
grown, and its spontaneous expression no longer possi- 
ble, yet its shadow has always hung over and about the 
haunts of its birth and the environment wherein it 
was manifest. The surrender of its power to the ever- 
progressing tide of human evolution was slow and hesi- 
tating. Its ideals, which have become an integral 
part of the consciousness of European life, will never 
be altogether lost although they are, more and more, 
becoming relegated to our subconsciousness. While 
they do, and always will, colour to some degree the 
quality of our thought, they are no longer susceptible 

47 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of complete focalization and therefore are incapable 
of a complete expression. 

It was in Italy that the Renaissance was born, nur- 
tured, developed, and perfected. Here it was indigenous 
and here it produced first and most rapidly its fullest 
expression; here also its decline and decay may be most 
fully comprehended. The reason for this will appear 
more clearly as we attempt very briefly to outline what 
the Renaissance was and why it was, leading to an ap- 
preciation of some of its most important accomplish- 
ments. 

Perhaps it would be well to try to sense anew the 
nature and meaning of this new form of experience in 
order the better to comprehend its power, its scope, 
and its manifestation in the material world. To do 
this necessitates our recalling once more the origin of 
the Renaissance and what each of its component ele- 
ments really sought to express. 

First we must anew see clearly the essence of 
mediaeval mind, its ideal of religious domination, in 
which the spirit sought to control and finally to eliminate 
the body, through mortification and discipline; its over- 
wrought imaginings, its artistic triumphs, and its system 
of honour, military control, and social intercourse. 

A life completely set to religion was the ideal of 
mediaeval consciousness and its attainment was sought 
through a determination to destroy the desire for, and 
delight in, material things, particularly as these things 
constituted a response to the appetites. This was the 
atmosphere, or rather the sieve, through which the 
second element of the Renaissance was to pass as it 
merged into the new order. 
48 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

The second element we know as Classicism, which 
embodied the ideals and practices of the ancients. Of 
this we have spoken in Chapter I and need only recall 
how entirely different was its spirit, which sought the 
elevation and perfection of human life through the 
conception of natural beauty. Life was built around 
this idea, which regulated the appetites, amusements, 
and life work, all to one end. Greek art was the result, 
and Roman art its practical application to the great 
political social system which still lacked the spiritual 
consciousness developed by mediaevalism. 

The third element was the conscious acceptance of the 
appetites as something to be satisfied, at first legiti- 
mately, but finally, as they grew in importance in the 
Renaissance mind, furnishing the dominating impulse 
in life's endeavours, and determining its destiny. This 
third element may be called, in the broadest sense, 
Humanism, which involves the recognition of human 
rights and possibilities as opposed to spiritual domina- 
tion. These three ideals may be briefly described as the 
classic or sesthetic, the mediaeval or spiritual, and the 
humanistic, or the sensuous and material. 

The Renaissance then, was the rebirth of classic 
ideals and practices filtered through a mediaeval Gothic 
mind with the constantly growing urge of the redis- 
covered and liberated sense appetites which claimed 
more and more attention and satisfaction until the 
Baroque was reached and exploited. The gradual 
development and maturity of this idea is the history of 
the social art expression of this period. 

'*The spirit of chivalry left behind it a more valuable 
successor. The character of knight gradually subsided 

49 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

in that of gentleman; and the one distinguishes European 
society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as 
much as the other did in the preceding ages," writes Hal- 
lam. How the old ideal was gradually merged in the new 
and how the leaven of humanism slowly made itself felt 
at first, and finally became the absorbing interest in life, 
with the decline and decay that always follows the abso- 
lute surrender of reason and restraint to the appetites and 
materialism, is well summed up by him in the following 
description: "A jealous sense of honour less romantic 
but equally elevated, a ceremonious gallantry and 
politeness, a strictness in devotional observances, a 
high pride of birth and feeling of dependence upon any 
sovereign for the dignity it gave, a sympathy for martial 
honour though more subdued by civil habits." This 
is followed by the comment: "Time has effaced much 
of this gentlemanly as it did before the chivalrous 
character from the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, its figure and beauty have undergone a tacit 
decay and yielded perhaps in every country of increas- 
ing commercial wealth more diffused instruction, the 
spirit of general liberty in some, of servile obsequious- 
ness in others, the modes of life in great cities and the 
levelling custom of social intercourse." 

Little art was produced in the fourteenth century 
that was not religious, a notable exception being the 
costumes, which very early felt the influence of the 
decline in religious fervour and responded quickly. In 
the fifteenth century art was chiefly religious in its con- 
ception, but its spirit often betrayed the growth of the 
humanistic idea, which became more and more em- 
phasized in the minds of the people and appeared in an 
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THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

altered phase of art, particularly as it was expressed in 
the house, in the inventions of fashion and as it related 
to costumes and personal ornamentation. 

A contemporary writer tells us that the decrease of 
severe religious convictions was accompanied by laxity 
of morals, so it is not surprising that ladies of doubtful 
reputation but great beauty were selected by artists as 
models for Madonnas and other religious pictures. 
This in part accounts for the growing tendency in the 
jBfteenth century to portray female saints arrayed in all 
the gorgeous trappings of the most noble ladies and the 
most notorious courtesans of the time, and it also ac- 
counts in part, at least, for the mixed ecclesiastic and 
secular modes appearing in the clothes represented in 
Renaissance painting in the early decades of the century. 

Except in a complete treatment of this subject it is 
not safe to attempt a division of the period into any- 
thing but centuries, and even then one epoch overlaps 
another in its development, and one ideal fades into 
another in such a way that classification is difiicult, if 
not impossible. All that we can do is to fall back upon 
the time-worn practice of saying: "it depends upon the 
point of view." 

The architect loves to date the Renaissance from 
Brunelleschi (1379 to 1446) or from his dome on the 
cathedral of Florence; on the other hand- the sculptor 
talks of Pisano and his work at Pisa and Siena; while 
the painter sees the Renaissance idea, in embryo at 
least, in the works of Cimabue, Giotto, and Orcagna. 
Literary men regard the decay of the Eastern empire 
and the migration to Italy of Greek scholars with their 
old manuscripts and models as marking the birth of the 

51 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Renaissance; but no one of these views can satisfy us if 
we are to think broadly of the ideal to be expressed, how 
this ideal was formulated and how it was externalized in 
material social form. We shall therefore not attempt a 
chronological arrangement or try to fix exact dates as to 
what is generally known as the early and the high 
Renaissance and its period of decline, but shall think in 
terms of Renaissance elements: the Early, in which the 
Gothic ecclesiastic spirit is in the ascendency; the 
High, with the noble, grand, and slightly autocratic 
social ideal dominating the ecclesiastic; and the De- 
cline, which sought by an inordinately grandiose and 
sumptuous luxuriousness to thrill and satisfy the already 
satiated senses. The culmination of this last is known 
as the Baroque, which had its climax at Venice and 
in Rome. 

Social life during the Renaissance was centred 
around the house instead of the church. At first the 
gloomy barrack castles were refurnished or more 
completely furnished, as the growth of humanistic 
ideas created a desire for greater and wider practices of 
the social arts, with a growing admiration for luxury 
and display. After 1450, however, noble palaces arose 
in Florence, in the sixteenth century in Rome, and 
later in Venice, while the feudal castles at Ferrara, 
Milan, Mantua, and Urbino were either added to, or 
new and more comfortable buildings were erected in 
their places. Boulting describes general conditions in 
these terms: 

"Need we describe the noble elevation of the palaces 
that arose during the Renaissance; how powerful yet 
how light they looked; or the glowing harmony of 
52 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

delicate colour set off by gold, within doors, every room 
different from all the others, and full of invention? 
The furniture, never too crowded, was nobly carved, 
the sideboards supported plate exquisitely graven; 
elegant lamps hung from the ceiling or sprang in beauti- 
ful curves from the walls; priceless books were gathered 
together in the library. There were great shining 
copper vessels to cool the wines; musical instruments lay 
about; there was profusion of glass and majolica and, 
here and there, quiet altars of delicate workmanship. 
Lace was used for the adornment of wondrous bedsteads 
before it became an article of personal dress. Great 
importance was attached to the occupation of a bed as 
splendid as it was unwholesome and funereally solemn. 
When Giovanni Andrea d'Oria received the Duchess of 
Loreno in 1579 he provided for her use an elaborately 
carved bed adorned with the richest gold fringe. From 
the end of the fifteenth century leather hangings were 
often used instead of arras and tapestries; they were 
originally an Italian product, though Spaniards and 
French learned the art of making them. Great ladies 
sat on uncomfortable sofas or great stiff chairs with 
armorial bearings and a shelter for the head." 

Crowds of servants replaced the feudal retainers. 
Renee of Ferrara had, of her own separate household in 
1529, four secretaries, a chief lady and seven maids of 
honour, an almoner, two choristers, six maids of the 
bedchamber, six equerries, doctors, and altogether, 
about two hundred attendants and servants. The 
greatest artists were employed in painting the walls in 
fresco, in designing the furniture, and in modelling 
pieces of plate. In the sixteenth century Michael 

53 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Angelo did not disdain to bestow his genius on a salt- 
cellar. 

Sansovini, who wrote near the end of the sixteenth 
century, tells us he is unable to describe the richness of 
the interior of the Venetian palaces. Another writer 
declares that one is utterly dumbfounded at the in- 
teriors, which are filled with beautiful pictures, sculp- 
tures, ornaments, tapestries, gold, silver, and other 
precious adornments, so that if he attempted to tell 
about them all men would call him a liar. 

The costumes of the first three quarters of the 
fifteenth century show admirably how strongly in- 
trenched was the ecclesiastic influence that constituted 
mediaeval idealism, as indeed do some of the frescoes 
of even the last quarter of the century. So long as the 
painter's craft was mainly employed in the decoration 
of churches or other ecclesiastical buildings the spirit of 
the early ideal influenced immensely the costumes of the 
figures portrayed and these in turn reacted on the 
fashions exploited in the social world. Even Angelico, 
Masaccio, Orcagna, Fabriano, Gozzoli, and the elder 
Lippi illustrate this spirit, while old documents show 
the same trend of thought in secular life. 

Just as soon, however, as social life assumed more im- 
portance than religious idealism a change took place and 
by 1500 clothes for saints conceived according to a 
spiritual ideal were a thing of the past, for instead of 
saints being regarded as models for fine ladies and 
others, fine ladies and others became models for saints, 
until even saints were dressed as women saw fit to 
dictate. The most interesting psychological process of 
this epoch is found in the complete change in the 
54 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

general appearance and in the costumes of the female 
saints, as humanism displaced medisevalism and the 
surrender of humanism to sense appetite took place. 

Old pictures from 1400 to 1475 furnish the finest 
costume documents of that period, while those of the 
next century are the most illuminating as to the 
psychological change, for the type which they represent 
is that of the real woman instead of the ideal one, the 
great lady or the most notorious courtesan being 
substituted for the imaginary saint. 

As wealth increased and human requirements became 
more important, lavishness of display in art extended to 
the most natural family functions and events. Eleo- 
nora of Aragon, wife of Ercole I. of Ferrara, in 1474 
ordered for the cradle four woollen mattresses and a 
bolster, all to be covered with azure blue taffeta, white 
damask hangings and a silk coverlet of white damask 
lined with taffeta. 

At the birth of the young prince, son of Lodovico 
Sforza and Beatrice d'Este, in 1493, a maid of honour 
writes this most wonderful account of the event and its 
setting: 

"On the eve of the young prince's birth, the sump- 
tuous cradle and layette prepared for his reception were 
shown to the Ambassadors, chief magistrates, and 
nobles of Milan, and displayed on tables covered with 
gold and crimson brocade, lined with Spanish cat, in the 
Sala del Tesoro, adjoining Beatrice's rooms. All through 
the next fortnight costly gifts for the young duchess and 
her new-born babe were received from the magistrates 
of Milan and the chief towns of the duchy, and principal 
courtiers. On Sunday, the 4th of February, the 

65 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

ambassadors, councillors, magistrates, and court offi- 
cials, together with many noble Milanese ladies ^ere 
invited to present their congratulations to Beatrice, 
and that evening the gifts presented to her were publicly 
displayed in the Sala del Tesoro. The doors of the 
shelves along the walls were thrown open, and the 
splendid gold and silver plate, the massive jars, bowls, 
vases, and dishes, which they contained, were ranged 
in tiers on a stand, protected by iron bars and guarded 
by two men-at-arms wearing ducal liveries. 

"There they were received by stewards clad in silver 
brocade, who led them through a suite of rooms adorned 
with gilded columns and hung with white damask 
curtains richly embroidered with equestrian figures and 
other Sforzesque devices, into the presence of the 
duchess. This chamber was still more richly decorated 
than the others. ''Indeed, it is calculated," writes the 
admiring maid of honour, "the tapestries and hangings 
here are worth 70,000 ducats. Two pages guarded the 
doors, and within, near the fireplace. Duchess Leonora 
sat at her daughter's bedside, accompanied by two or 
three ladies. Beatrice's own couch was gorgeously 
adorned with draperies of mulberrry colour and gold, 
and a crimson canopy bearing the names of Lodovico 
and Beatrice in massive gold, with red and white 
rosettes and a fringe of golden balls which alone was 
valued at 8,000 ducats." 

Another document relates that when a Milanese 
priest was visiting Venice at the end of the fifteenth 
century, he was invited to call upon a lady, the mother 
of a young child, and that there were in the chamber at 
the time twenty-five damsels each more beautiful than 
56 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

the other. They showed not above four or six fingers, 
breadth of naked flesh below the shoulder, in front and 
behind. The bed must have cost 500 ducats, while 
the jewels of the visitors cost 29 times that sum, and he 
remarks that "all of their faces were very well painted." 
It seems that function had no more relation with fitness 
then than now, and that if no occasion for display 
presented itself the ladies of the Renaissance could 
make one to order. 

Up to the late decades of the fifteenth century 
travel from one place to another was uniformly on 
horseback, excepting that occasionally a litter was used 
for very highborn ladies. Caterina Sforza in 1495 is 
found riding in a sort of carriage, but it was in 1509 that 
Cardinal Ippolito d'Este brought from Hungary the 
first cumbrous coach, while by the end of the first 
quarter of the sixteenth century we read that in the 
broad, well-paved streets of Milan "there are so many 
superb carriages ornamented with the finest gilding 
and carved so richly, drawn by four magnificent horses 
(some had three or four horses, and an incredible 
number had two, all with the richest coverings of silk* 
and gold — ^prinking of various designs) so that when the 
ladies take the air in the country it is like a Roman 
triumph." 

The climax of the Renaissance was reached about 
1500, and for the following three decades its luxury, 
grandeur, and magnificence had no parallel, certainly 
since the height of the Roman Empire, perhaps not even 
then. Humanism, which was but a feeling, evident 
only in spots during the fourteenth century, grew and 
blossomed into an orderly institution in the fifteenth 

57 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

century. The period of the ecclesiastical setting had 
passed, the church itself embraced the humanistic ideal 
and by 1500 was furnishing some of the greatest 
humanists from its clergy, and even among its popes. 
While the change of mental attitude was gradual, it was 
none the less complete. The distinct mediaeval flavour 
that permeated the art of the earliest Renaissance was 
slowly becoming little more than a vapour of suggestion 
and was finally practically lost. 

The worship of the ancients too, was growing, with 
more and more enthusiasm. Study of them and their 
works fostered the spirit of culture and increased the 
spread of learning everywhere, which had the effect of 
influencing, though not entirely dominating, the art of 
the High Renaissance. Living for the sake of life itself, 
as expressed in material things, became the criterion. 
With it came the surrender to the appetites through the 
senses, which by 1600 may be said to have been complete, 
after which came the decline and resulting decay. 

By far the most important part of the period to us is 
the High Renaissance, when humanistic ideas became 
supreme, while the Gothic spirit hovered near, soft- 
ening it and giving it soul, and while the pure form 
ideals of the ancients provided restraint with grandeur, 
gave sincerity to luxury and consistency to magnifi- 
cence. It was this epoch that produced Bramante, 
Peruzzi, Michael Angelo, Leonardo, and Raphael, with 
the host of artist craftsmen who created ceaselessly 
and joyously for such great patrons of art as Lorenzo 
the Magnificent and others at Florence; for the dukes 
of Urbino, Ferrara, Milan, and Mantua; and for such 
great ladies as the Duchess Isabella d'Este, Duchess 
58 




3ECOXD PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. THE ELEMENTAL 
IMPULSES SEEN IN THE BODIES, FACES, POSES, AND COSTUMES, 
ALTHOUGH THE IDEA TO BE EXPRESSED IS A SPIRITUAL ONE. 
ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TO THE BOUDOIR CAP AND THE OPERA 
CAPE. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

Beatrice of Milan, Duchess Leonora of Ferrara, Duchess 
EHzabeth of Urbino, Lucrezia Borgia, Vittoria Colonna, 
and others. The luxury and grandeur of the northern 
countries and the restrained magnificence of Florence 
were echoed in a less decided manner in the cities and 
towns that felt these influences through proximity or by 
other association. 

Increase in wealth and also in learning brought about 
a lively commerce with the East, as new and rich 
materials, larger and rarer gems, were required to set 
properly the superb stage upon which this brilliant and 
cultured social life-play was being enacted. 

We recall that this ideal had been taking consistent 
form in Italy and that France and England were still 
clinging to the old traditions of medisevalism, trying to 
adjust the formulae to changed political conceptions, to 
cooled religious fervour and to the progress of the 
social idea. Very little knowledge of conditions in 
Italy had found its way into France and the surprise and 
amazement of Charles VIII and his army when they 
passed through Piedmont and Lombardy in 1494 on 
their way to Naples can be imagined. Staley, in his 
"Lords and Ladies of the Italian Lakes, " gives us a most 
charming and altogether enlightening account of this 
visit of Charles, as follows: 

"He and his courtiers were amazed at the magni- 
ficence of their reception, and particularly at the 
gorgeousness of the Duchess's apparel. Her jewels 
greatly outnumbered Charles's; she was weighed down 
with chains and collars of solid gold and flashing gems; 
and her fingers were completely covered with fine 
rings. She wore upon her head a Ducal crown of gold, 

59 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

studded with huge diamonds and rubies. The 
Duchess's robes were of cloth of gold and silver tissue 
worn over the richest petticoats of costly green silk 
velvet; her train was a mass of curious embroidery in 
cabalistic figures and designs of witchcraft, — ^so at 
least they seemed to be to the French visitors. 

" One day, mounted on a pure white steed caparisoned 
in cloth of gold, and a lace chemisette open at the breast, 
her well curled hair was tied with gold cord and pearls, 
and tied with silk ribbons floating down her back. She 
wore a crimson wide brimmed felt hat turned up at the 
side, with six red feathers and a jewelled brooch. She 
sat astride, as did her suite of twenty beautiful girls, 
each attired like herself. Six chariots followed, lined 
with cloth of gold and green velvet, filled with ladies of 
her court magnificently dressed. 

"At dinner in the evening the Duchess again wel- 
comed the king clothed in lustrous green satin. The 
body, back, and front was stitched thickly with flashing 
jewels and had the appearance of a cuirass. The 
sleeves were tight, but puffed on the shoulder and 
entwined with bands of rubies. Her bosom was bare, 
the chemisette merely covering her corset, and round 
her throat she wore the biggest pearls Charles had ever 
seen. Upon her head Beatrice had a jaunty little red 
velvet cap, after the French fashion, with an aigrette of 
green feathers, and a great pear-shaped pearl sur- 
rounded with diamonds and rubies." 

Lorenzo di Medici more than any other man may be 
said to be the greatest patron of art and learning of the 
Renaissance period. The democratic form of govern- 
ment at Florence, the restrained and sober temper of 
60 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

its people, the wealth and importance of many of its 
most prominent families, with the financial and social 
power of the Medici family, all contributed something 
to every branch of life that was in any way related to 
the humanistic idea, as portrayed by the old chron- 
iclers. His annual expenditure for books alone was 
something like $300,000 of our money. It is said that 
emissaries were constantly searching the Orient and other 
countries for manuscripts, and that a certain man at one 
time brought back two hundred Greek works, of which 
more than eighty had never been seen in Italy before. 
He endowed the Greek Academy at Florence, be- 
stowed favours and money lavishly on all leaders in any 
field of learning and yearly allotted certain sums to 
antiquarian research. As a patron of art he was no less 
intent. Ghirlandajo and Botticelli worked for him for 
a long period; the master craftsmen in every field were 
called upon to create and execute not only for him 
directly, but for those who fell under the spell of this 
giant in art appreciation. This was the psychological 
moment for such encouragement and patronage, for the 
zenith of glory in the High Renaissance was approach- 
ing. Verocchio, Botticelli, Ghirlandajo, Perugino, 
Leonardo, Lippi, and Lorenzo di Credi were all at 
Florence, Bellini and Carpaccio at Venice, Mantegna at 
Mantua, Francia at Bologna, and Pinturicchio at Peru- 
gia; while Luini, Bartolomeo, Michael Angelo, Titian, 
Andrea del Sarto, and Raphael were approaching their 
debut in the great constellation of master-painters. In 
other branches of art a similar list of immortals might 
be given, each of whom contributed a share to the full- 
ness of glory of this grand epoch. 

61 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

To the frescoes and portraits of these artists we may 
go for the most faithful of all records so far as costumes 
are concerned. Botticelli, that rare spirit of fanciful 
medisevalism, with an overwhelming sense and un- 
derstanding of classic significance clothed his women 
in late fifteenth century dress of exquisite design, with 
all the charm of classic interpretation. Ghirlandajo, 
the master of magnificent realism and detail, has 
given the most illuminating portrayal of the grandeur 
and dignity of the Florentine ladies of the time. 
Titian's records of the Magnificent Ones of Venice, 
del Sarto's sensuous beauties, and Raphael's per- 
fectly good and winsome ladies are too important 
to be lightly passed as social expressions of their 
time; faithful documents all of them, giving us in 
the most intimate detail, each a master's record of a 
type of Renaissance lady enlarged and ennobled by the 
favoured interpretation of one of the world's greatest 
painters. 

As a devoted patron of art, among women, Isabella d' 
Este, Duchess of Mantua was undoubtedly the fore- 
most. She was to the north of Italy what Lorenzo di 
Medici was to Florence, and it was the greatest of 
honours to be called by her to artistic service. Her 
devotion to art was by no means confined to the 
visual arts. She was a great musician and was pos- 
sessed of much literary genius. Her knowledge of and 
interest in the work of the ancients was broad and 
comprehensive, while she patronized with a most 
lavish hand the artist craftsmen of her time, in every 
field. Perhaps something of the feehng of the social life 
during the High Renaissance may be obtained through 
62 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

a brief discussion of her palace at Mantua, of its furnish- 
ings, of her costumes and of her relations with the courts 
of Ferrara, Urbino, and Milan. Besides this, her life 
(1474 to 1535) covers the most important epoch of the 
entire Renaissance. 

Brought up from infancy in an atmosphere of art in 
the court of Ferrara, where her mother, the Duchess 
Leonora, was herself an ardent patron of art, Isabella 
at sixteen years of age was married to Duke Francesco 
Gonzaga of Mantua. Miss Cartwright tells us in her 
"Life of Isabella d'Este" that all through the months 
preceding the wedding great painters, goldsmiths, and 
carvers were very busy preparing the trousseau. " Early 
in 1489," she says, "Ercole Roberti was sent to Venice 
to buy gold-leaf and ultramarine for the decoration of 
the wedding chests. On his return he painted thirteen 
cassoni, for which he employed eleven thousand gold 
leaves, and designed the nuptial bed, and a magnificent 
chariot and gilded bucentaur which the Duke presented 
to his daughter. The tapestries and hangings for her 
rooms were made in Venice, seals and buttons and 
silver boxes for her use were engraved by Ferrarese 
artists, and a portable silver altar, richly chased and 
embossed, together with ornaments and office-books to 
match, were ordered from the skilled Milanese gold- 
smith Fra Rocco. The girdle or majestate, worn by 
royal brides and elaborately worked in gold and silver, 
was also ordered from Fra Rocco, who devoted many 
months to the task, and received 600 ducats from the 
Duke. 

"The wedding was celebrated at Ferrara on the 11th 
of February, 1490, and after the ceremony in the ducal 

63 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

chapel, the bride rode through the streets of the city In 
her fine new chariot draped with cloth of gold, with the 
Duke of Urbino on horseback on her right and the 
Ambassador of Naples on her left. The banquet 
which followed was one of the most sumptuous ever 
held in the Castello of Ferrara. The walls of the Sala 
Grande were hung with the Arras tapestries brought 
from Naples by Duchess Leonora, including the 
'Queen of Sheba's Visit to Solomon,' and six pieces 
known as *La Pastourelle,' worked by hand in gold and 
silver and coloured silks of exquisite delicacy. 

"The magnificent dinner-service used at Isabella's 
wedding had been made in Venice by a renowned gold- 
smith, Georgio da Ragusa, from Cosimo Tura's designs. 
Crystal flagons and dishes of gold and enamel were 
supported by griffins and satyrs, dolphins and satyrs; the 
handles of golden bowls and cornucopias laden with 
fruit were adorned with genii or the eagles of the house 
of Este, while two hundred and fifty little banners, 
painted by Ferrara artists with the Este and Gonzaga 
arms, adorned the temples and pyramids of gilt and 
coloured sugar that were a triumph of the confectioner's 
art. 

"The streets were hung with brocades and garlands 
of flowers. At the Porta Pradella a choir of white- 
robed children welcomed the bride with songs and 
recitations. At the Ponte S. Jacopo, on the Piazza in 
front of Alberti's church of S. Andrea, at the gates of 
the park, and on the drawbridge of the Castello, 
pageants and musical entertainments were prepared In 
her honour. At one point the seven planets and nine 
ranks of angelic orders welcomed her coming, and a 
64 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

fair boy with angel wings recited an epithalamium, 
composed for the occasion, at the foot of the grand 
staircase of the Castello di Corte. There EHzabeth 
Gonzaga received the bride, and the princely guests sat 
down to a banquet in the state rooms, while the im- 
mense crowds assembled on the piazza outside were 
feasted at the public expense." 

Of the palace at Mantua and the life of the duchess 
there, Odom, in his "History of Italian Furniture," 
gives us this illuminating and delightful picture : 

"At the court of Mantua the art of the High Renais- 
sance found its most sympathetic and enthusiastic 
patron in Isabella d'Este, the Duchess of Mantua. 
Rarefied by Renaissance legend, materialized by 
d'Annunzio, and called by Niccolo' da Correggio the 
first lady of the world, Leonardo and Titian painted her 
portrait, Mantegna decorated her room, Aldo Manuzio 
sent her new editions of the classics as soon as they were 
printed, and Ariosto read her the first draft of his 
'Orlando Furioso.' Mantua had long been ranked 
high among the seats of culture and autocratic social 
life, but with the coming of Isabella it became not only 
the centre of the greatest taste and refinement of this 
period, 'the envy of the civilized, world,' but the 
criterion of fashion as well. 

"Toward the end of the century Isabella abandoned 
the mediaeval fortress, the Castello Vecchio, after she had 
done much to dispel the ancient gloom by remodelling 
and adding to its furnishings fine works of art. Besides 
the furniture she ordered she collected rare tapestries, pic- 
tures by the greatest masters, precious crystals, antique 
marbles, enamels, musical instruments, and manuscripts. 

65 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

*' After the death of Duke Francesco, 1519, Giulio 
Romano was ordered to alter for her a wing in the 
castle, to be arranged for living apartments in addition 
to those most perfect and famous interiors of the 
Renaissance, the 'Appartamento Paradiso.' These 
were three small jewel-like rooms, the symphonic work 
of painter, woodcarver and intarsia worker of the early 
sixteenth century. The exquisite wood carved ceilings 
are still intact, while the music room retains even more 
of its original beauty. Its well-preserved ceiling is 
diagonalled with carved bands with pendant-like ros- 
ettes placed at the intersections, forming panels that 
enclose delicate foliage and emblems on a blue ground. 
Less fortunate is the wainscoting, retaining only parts of 
its intarsia executed by Antonio and Paolo della Mola 
above which were once inserted, in exquisite rectangular 
panels, masterpieces by Mantegna, Perugino, and 
Lorenzo Costa, treasures now hanging in the Italian 
Gallery of the Louvre. But of the furniture, tapestries, 
and other oh jets d'art of these apartments, not a piece 
is known to exist." 

Isabella's apartment which she occupied during the 
greater part of her married life was in the piano nohile of 
the tower of the castle, close to the Camera Dipinta or 
nuptial chamber. This was decorated by Andrea. A 
staircase led from it to the duke's apartment below. 

Piero Saranzo relates how after being conducted 
through endless apartments filled with artistic treasures 
they were ushered into the private suite of the duke. 
Here they found him "reclining on a couch by the 
hearth of a richly adorned room with his pet dwarf clad 
in gold brocade and three greyhounds lying at his 
66 




ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. COSTUMES 
SHOW MEDIEVAL PAGEANT SPIRIT WITH PERSONAGES OF EARLY 
RENAISSANCE IDEALS. 







g^a 




LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY IN VENICE. ATTENTION IS DIRECTED 
TO THE LUXURIOUS MATERIALS AND THE PECULIAR HEADDRESSES. 
THESE ARE MORE EASTERN IN FEELING. 




LAST HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. COSTUMES SHOW A DE- 
CIDED PAGAN CLASSIC CONCEPTION IN LINE AND IN THE VERY IM- 
AGINATIVE ACCENTUATION INSTEAD OF CONCEALMENT OF THE FORM 
OF THE BODY. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

feet, three pages stood by waving large fans lest even a 
hair should fall upon him; a quantity of falcons and 
hawks in leash were in the room, and the walls were 
hung with pictures of his favourite dogs and horses." 
The beauty and extent of the gardens and the magnifi- 
cent view from the loggia greatly impressed the visitors. 

Under Austrian rule of one hundred and fifty years 
these apartments were stripped of most of their decora- 
tions, but one little room of the suite still retains 
something of its original appearance. Here are some 
traces of gilding and ultramarine on the blue vaulted 
ceiling and also Gonzaga devices carved on the 
delicately inlaid woodwork of the frieze. 

It is only natural that one who bestowed so much 
thought, time, and money upon collections and the 
decoration of her palace should have a corresponding 
interest in the costumes which would not only express 
the taste of one of the greatest patrons of Renaissance 
art, but which would at once mark the wearer as fitted 
to express the particular rank of autocratic social 
leader, which she was; for not only was she supreme in 
her own duchy, but the fame of her taste, learning, and 
beauty was well diffused in Milan, Venice, Urbino, 
and Florence, while even Rome and the Vatican had 
occasion more than once to feel her power. Some little 
idea of her extravagance in the particular of clothing 
is given in the discussion of her trousseau at the time of 
her marriage, and her collection of robes, jewels, and 
finely wrought materials is said to have kept pace with 
her indefatigable search for other art treasures. 

On a visit to Milan it is recorded that the young 
Duchess was determined to make a brave show on 

67 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

this occasion, and all the merchants in Venice and 
Ferrara were required to ransack their stores and 
supply her with furs, brocades, and jewels. Zorzo 
Brognolo, the Gonzaga's trusted agent in Venice, was 
desired to search all the shops in Venice for eighty of the 
very finest sables to make a sbernia or mantle. ''Try 
to find one skin with the head of the animal," Isabella 
adds, "to make a muff, which I can carry in my hands. 
Never mind if it costs as much as ten ducats; I will give 
the money gladly as long as it is really a fine fur. You 
must also buy eight yards of the best crimson satin 
which you can find in Venice to line the said sbernia, and 
for God's sake use all your accustomed diligence, for 
nothing, I assure you, will give me greater pleasure." 
A few days later she entreats Giacomo Trotti, the 
Duke of Ferrara's ambassador at Milan, to send her 
two skins of Spanish cat, the best and finest that are to 
be found in that city, to trim this sumptuous mantle; 
and in January, 1491, when she had already started on 
her journey, she writes to Genoa and orders another 
sbernia of costly brocade to be sent by express courier to 
await her arrival at Pavia. 

Her extravagance and her desire to exceed all others 
in the number and quality of her personal adornments, 
that amounted almost to a mania, is clearly and 
amusingly shown in a letter written to an agent of her 
father who was going to France to buy objects of art. 

*'I send you a hundred ducats," she writes, "and 
wish you to understand that you are not to return the 
money if any of it is left, after buying the things which 
I want, but are to spend it in buying some gold chain or 
anything else that is new and elegant. And if more is 
68 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

required, spend that too, for I had rather be in your 
debt so long as you bring me the latest novelties. But 
these are the kind of things that I wish to have — en- 
graved amethysts, rosaries of black amber and gold, 
blue cloth for a camora, black cloth for a mantle, such 
as shall be without a rival in the world, even if it costs 
ten ducats a yard; as long as it is of real excellence, 
never mind ! If it is only as good as those which I see 
other people wear, I had rather be without it." 

The psychology here is enlightening even if it is 
intensely amusing, perhaps a little unexpected from so 
cultivated a source, yet how human and strangely 
familiar. She besought an envoy in Venice at one time 
to get her immediately silks, velvets of oriental make, 
brocades patterned all over with leopards, doves, and 
eagles, rare perfumes, Murano glass, silver, very fine 
Rheims linen (finer than any sample), bracelets, and 
finely wrought rings. These and countless other art 
novelties were sought after by her emissaries in all the 
known markets of the world. Toward the latter part 
of her life, however, we find the Duchess thinking less of 
clothes and more of the other arts, while, as we shall 
see, many of the other great ladies seemed never to lose 
the intense longing for personal adornment. A similar 
ratio is always found, it seems, in any clearly expressed 
period of social art. 

On the feast of St. George Isabella paid a visit to her 
father at Ferrara, and while she was there received an 
urgent summons from her lord to lend him some of her 
finest jewels with which to adorn his person at the fetes 
about to be held in Milan, to celebrate the arrival of the 
Imperial Ambassador and the investiture of Lodovico 

69 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Sforza with the ducal crown. Already, a year before, 
when the Duchess was at Urbino, she had, at Fran- 
cesco's desire, pledged many of her jewels in order to 
raise a sum of money with which to obtain his brother 
Sigismondo's advancement to the dignity of Cardinal. 
**One of the greatest wishes that I have in the world," 
she wrote, "is to see Monsignore a Cardinal, so I am 
much pleased to hear that this affair is about to be ar- 
ranged. I send Alberto da Bologna with the keys of 
my jewel boxes, that he may give you whatever you 
wish, since I would not only give my treasure, but my 
blood, for your honour and for your house." Now, 
like a good wife, she sent her most precious ornaments — 
her big diamonds and large rubies, and her collar of a 
hundred links — all but her golden girdle, which had 
been lately seen on her person at Milan, and which she 
had now lent one of her father's courtiers to wear at a 
masque. All her other jewels, as she gently reminded 
the Duke, were in pawn in Venice. 

A further word of description here may help us to 
connect the humanistic movement in the church with 
its social interpretation, and at the same time add 
another interesting picture of luxury and extravagance 
in costumes and other decorative settings. 

In Odom's ''History of Italian Furniture" we find 
this comment on the art of the High Renaissance: "The 
art of this era, decidedly more social than that of 
the Early Renaissance, contributed even more of its 
riches to the aggrandizement of the 'Magnificent Ones' 
as well as to the strengthening of the 'policy of culture' 
to the papacy. In a former period social expression 
was under the influence of the ecclesiastical, but with 
70 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

the Cinquecento secular expression dominated and by 
the end of the century, even in ecclesiastical work, 
beauty of line, form, and colour were considered suf- 
ficient symbols of holiness." 

Rome was the last of the great Renaissance centres 
to develop. It reached the height of its glory in the 
first quarter of the sixteenth century. The brilliance 
and luxury then prevalent were cut off and their ma- 
terial expression was either disseminated or destroyed 
by the invasion of the Imperial Army of Germans and 
Spaniards in 1527. The Sack of Rome may be said 
really to mark the end of the upward trend of the purely 
Renaissance idea, the decline and subsequent decay in- 
cident to a new complete surrender to the senses dating 
from this event. 

It was about this time (1502) that the notorious 
Borgia filled the papal chair and that his much dis- 
cussed daughter Lucrezia, about whom there have been 
more varieties of opinion written than of any woman of 
that century, married the young duke, Alfonso of 
Ferrara. 

The Borgias were of Spanish origin, the family dating 
from the early fourteenth century. They were prom- 
inent in the Spanish invasion of Italian life, for Alfonso 
Borgia, made a Cardinal in 1444, was chosen as Pope in 
1455, assuming the name of Calixtus III. He con- 
ferred the purple upon Rodrigo Borgia, his nephew, in 
1456 and he in turn became Pope in 1492, assuming the 
name of Alexander VI. Lucrezia, born into the most 
turbulent period of political despotism, was twelve 
years old when her father was elected to the papacy. 
The religion of the time was altogether material, social 

71 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

immorality was universal, in short sensuous indulgence 
and ostentatious magnificence were forging a chain with 
which the Renaissance ideal was ultimately strangled, 
and Rome, the most mature of all the Italian cities, 
played no small part in its execution. 

During the sway of the Borgias over the papal court 
and other centres where the influence of the papacy 
was dominant, hordes of Spaniards flocked to Italy, 
not only occupying positions of trust in the govern- 
ments but exercising power in matters of religion, while 
in commercial matters also they took an active part. 
This explains somewhat the distinctly Spanish feeling 
in much of the art of Italy during the last half of the 
sixteenth century. 

Lucrezia was born, so said the astrologer who cast her 
horoscope at birth, to a brilliant and successful career 
and when her origin, birth, training, and associations 
are considered it seems that she has never really been 
quite fairly dealt with. 

Gregorovius writes of Lucrezia and her wedding 
portion: ''The portion will consist of three hundred 
thousand ducats, not counting the presents which Ma- 
donna will receive from time to time. First a hundred 
thousand ducats are to be paid in money in install- 
ments in Ferrara. Then there will be silverware to 
the value of three thousand ducats; jewels, fine linen, 
costly trappings for horses and mules, together worth 
another hundred thousand. In her wardrobe she has 
a trimmed dress worth more than fifteen thousand 
ducats, and two hundred costly shifts, some of which 
are worth a hundred ducats apiece; the sleeves alone of 
some of them cost thirty ducats each, being trimmed 
72 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

with gold fringe." Another person reported to the 
Duchess Isabella that Luerezia had one dress worth 
twenty thousand ducats, and a hat valued at ten 
thousand. "It is said," so the Mantuan agent writes, 
"that more gold has been prepared and sold here in 
Naples in six months than has been used heretofore in 
years. She brings her husband another hundred 
thousand ducats, the value of the castles (Cento and 
Pieve), and will also secure the remission of Ferrara's 
tribute. The number of horses and persons the Pope 
will place at his daughter's disposal will amount to a 
thousand. There will be two hundred carriages — 
among them some of French make, if there is time — and 
with these will come the escort which is to take her." 

Describing her escort of five hundred nobles from 
Ferrara, he says: "These gentlemen, magnificently 
clad, and with heavy gold chains about their necks, 
mounted on beautiful horses, left Ferrara December 
ninth, with thirteen trumpeters and eight fifes at their 
head ; and thus this wedding cavalcade, led by a worldly 
Cardinal, rode noisily forth upon their journey. In 
our time such an aggregation might easily be mis- 
taken for a troop of trick riders. Nowhere did this 
brave company of knights pay their reckoning; in the 
domain of Ferrara they lived on the duke; in other 
words, at the expense of his subjects. In the lands of 
other lords they did the same, and in the territory of 
the Church the cities they visited were required to 
provide for them." 

Then follows a description of the reception of the 
nobles in Rome: "Leaning on the arm of an elderly 
cavalier dressed in black velvet, with a golden chain 

73 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

about his neck, Lucrezia went as far as the entrance 
of her palace to greet them. According to the pre- 
arranged ceremonial she did not kiss her brothers-in- 
law, but merely bowed to them, following the French 
custom. She wore a dress of some white material 
embroidered in gold, over which was a garment of dark 
brown velvet trimmed with sable. The sleeves were of 
white and gold brocade, tight, and barred in the Span- 
ish fashion. Her head-dress was of a green gauze, with 
a fine gold band and two rows of pearls. About her 
neck was a heavy chain of pearls with a ruby pendant. 
Refreshments were served, and Lucrezia distributed 
small gifts — ^the work of Roman jewellers — among those 
present. The princes departed highly pleased with 
their reception. 'This much I know,' wrote El Prete, 
'that the eyes of Cardinal Ippolito sparkled, as much 
as to say, She is an enchanting and exceedingly gracious 
lady.'" 

Cardinal Ippolito was instructed by his sister, Isa- 
bella of Mantua, as indeed was a special agent sent 
with the party to Rome, to give a detailed account, not 
only of the wedding festivities, but of the decorations 
and costumes worn by everybody. The Cardinal as 
well as the special emissary wrote a description, said by 
a recent writer to have been as complete an account as 
the best reporter from a modern daily paper would have 
written. 

Finally January sixth was set as the date for Lu- 
crezia to leave for Ferrara. Her father was determined 
that her departure should be a magnificent spectacle. 
She was accompanied by the Cardinal and many 
nobles, men and women, not to mention an exceedingly 
74 




LAST HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. COSTUMES, EARLY 
RENAISSANCE WITH CLASSIC FEELING IN LINE AND MOVEMENT LESS 
EMPHASIZED THAN IN THE LAST TWO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

large number of ladies in attendance with their ser- 
vants. There were two hundred cavaliers, with musi- 
cians and buffoons for entertainment. Many prov- 
inces were represented in her entourage and there were 
also Spaniards, Frenchmen, and other foreigners, while 
her personal retinue numbered two hundred people. 
A number of vehicles which the Pope had bought and a 
hundred and fifty mules carried the trousseau. When 
someone suggested an inventory the Pope remarked, 
"I desire that the duchess shall do with her property as 
she wishes," with which he presented her with nine 
hundred ducats to clothe herself and her servants, and 
a beautiful Sedan chair, in which the Duchess of Urbino 
was to sit beside her when she joined the procession. 

It does not require a much quickened imagination 
to complete the picture of ostentatious magnificence, 
inconceivable under modern conditions. In contrast 
to this, one has always to keep in mind the poverty of 
the masses and the state of semi-comfort accorded a 
large number of hangers-on at every court, as well as 
the lesser luxury of a small class of nobles who com- 
pleted the households of the "Magnificent Ones." 

Gregorovius gives us a thrilling picture of the passing 
of the gorgeous cavalcade on its way to Ferrara. Don 
Alfonso came out to Torre della Fossa to meet his 
bride, and the procession started. "At its head were 
seventy-five mounted archers in the livery of the house 
of Este — ^white and red — who were accompanied by 
eighty trumpeters and a number of fifes. Then came 
the nobility of Ferrara without regard to rank, followed 
by the members of the courts of the Marchioness of 
Mantua, who remained behind in the palace, and of 

75 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the Duchess of Urbino. Behind them rode Alfonso, 
with his brother-in-law, Annibale Bentivoglio, at his 
side, and accompanied by eight pages, he was dressed 
in red velvet in the French fashion, and on his head he 
wore a black velvet biretta, upon which was an orna- 
ment of wrought gold. He wore small red boots and 
French gaiters of black velvet. His bay horse was ca- 
parisoned in crimson and gold. 

"On the way to Ferrara Don Alfonso did not ride 
by the side of his consort as this would have been con- 
trary to the etiquette of the day. The bridegroom led 
the procession, near the middle of which was the bride, 
while the father-in-law came last. This arrangement 
was intended to indicate that Lucrezia was the chief 
personage in the parade. Just behind Alfonso came 
her escort, pages and court officials, among whom were 
several Spanish cavaliers; then five bishops, followed 
by the ambassadors according to rank; the four deputies 
of Rome, mounted upon beautiful horses and wearing 
long brocade cloaks and black birettas coming next. 
These were followed by six tambourines and two of 
Lucrezia's favourite clowns. 

"Then came the bride herself, radiantly beautiful 
and happy, mounted upon a white jennet with scarlet 
trappings, and followed by her master of horse. Lucre- 
zia was dressed in a loose-sleeved camora of black velvet 
with a narrow gold border, and a cape of gold bro- 
cade trimmed with ermine. On her head she wore a 
sort of net glittering with diamonds and gold — a 
present from her father-in-law. She did not wear a 
diadem. About her neck she had a chain of pearls 
and rubies which had once belonged to the duchess of 
76 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

Ferrara — as Isabella noticed with tears in her eyes. 
Her beautiful hair fell down unconfined on her shoul- 
ders. She rode beneath a purple baldachin, which the 
doctors of Ferrara — that is, the members of the facul- 
ties of law, medicine, and mathematics — supported in 
turn. 

"Behind Lucrezia came the duke, in black velvet, on a 
dark horse with trappings of the same material. On 
his right was the Duchess of Urbino clad in a dark vel- 
vet gown. 

"Behind them came fourteen floats upon which were 
seated a number of the noble women of Ferrara, beau- 
tifully dressed, including the twelve young ladies who 
had been allotted to Lucrezia as maids of honour. Then 
followed two white mules and two white horses decked 
with velvet and silk and costly gold trappings. Eighty- 
six mules accompanied the train bearing the bride's 
trousseau and jewels. 

"Lucrezia was received at the castle by Isabella 
Gonzaga and all the prominent ladies of the realm. 
It was night now and the palace was illuminated. The 
sound of music was heard. The reception halls were 
opened, and the bride was formally introduced to the 
court ofiicials, the ambassadors, the princes and prin- 
cesses of the realm, invited guests, the courtiers and 
church dignitaries." 

The wedding festivities lasted six days and it is a 
description of these that perhaps gives one a most 
complete picture of the social life of the times. 

On the occasion of Beatrice's visit to Venice in 1493 
with her mother, the Duchess of Ferrara and "Ma- 
donna Anna Sforza, " a member of the family in writing 

77 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

to Isabella, Duchess of Mantua, says: **I will not at- 
tempt to describe the gowns and ornaments worn by 
these duchesses and Madonna Anna, this being quite 
out of my line, and will only tell you that all three of 
them appeared resplendent with the most precious 
jewels." Fortunately this omission was supplied by 
one of Beatrice's secretaries, Niccolo' de' Negri, who, 
in a letter to Lodovico, informed him that the duchess 
on the day of her arrival at Venice "wore her gold 
brocade, embroidered with crimson doves, with a jew- 
elled feather in her cap, and a rope of pearls and dia- 
monds round her neck, to which the priceless ruby 
known as El Spigo was attached as pendant." 

She herself writes in a letter to her husband concern- 
ing the same visit, as follows: *' When we came out of the 
Treasury, we went on the Piazza of St. Mark, among the 
shops of the Ascensiontide fair which is still going on, 
and found such a magnijBcent show of beautiful Vene- 
tian glass, that we were fairly bewildered, and were 
obliged to remain there for a long time. And as we 
walked along from shop to shop, everyone turned to 
look at the jewels which I wore in the velvet cap on my 
head, and on the vest embroidered with the towers of 
the Port of Genoa, and especially at the large diamond 
which I wore at my breast. And I heard people saying 
one to the other — 'That is the wife of Signor Lodovico. 
Look what fine jewels she wears ! What splendid rubies 
and diamonds she has.'" 

On October 11, 1493, the Duchess Leonora, mother of 
Beatrice, died at Ferrara, and in an old letter is found 
this description of the latter's mourning costume: '*Her 
Excellency is clad in a robe of black cloth, with sleeves of 
78 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

the same, and a very long mantle, also of black cloth, 
and wears on her head a black silk cap with muslin folds, 
which are neither gray nor yellow, but pure white. 
She hardly ever leaves her room, and Signor Lodovico 
spends most of his time with her, and they two and 
Messer Galeaz have their meals alone in their rooms." 

A fortnight later in the same autumn Beatrice was 
called upon to lay aside this style of dress and assist 
at a most notable function, the marriage of Maximil- 
ian, the new Emperor of Germany, to Bianca Sforza, 
a niece of Lodovico. In preparation for this she wrote 
to her sister Isabella, asking her permission to use one 
of her designs for the wedding toilet. She says: "I 
cannot remember if your Highness has yet carried out 
the idea of that pattern of linked tracery which Messer 
Niccolo' da Correggio suggested to you when we were 
last together. If you have not yet ordered the execu- 
tion of this design, I am thinking of having his inven- 
tion carried out in massive gold, on a 'camora' of purple 
velvet, to wear on the day of Madonna Bianca's wed- 
ding, since my husband desires the whole court to lay 
aside mourning for that one day and to appear in col- 
ours. This being the case, I cannot refrain from wear- 
ing colours on this occasion, although the heavy loss 
we have had in our dear mother's death has left me with 
little care for new inventions. But since this is neces- 
sary, I have decided to make a trial of this pattern, if 
your Highness has not yet made use of it, and send the 
present courier, begging you not to detain him, but to 
let me know at once if you have yet tried this new de- 
sign or not." 

In another letter to Isabella she writes of the wedding: 

79 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

"On the last day of the past month the nuptials took 
place, and in preparation for this solemnity, a portico 
was erected in front of the Chiesa Maggiore of the city 
of Milan, with pillars on either side, supporting a purple 
canopy, embroidered with doves. Within the church, 
the aisles were hung with brocade as far as the choir, 
in front of which a triumphal arch had been erected on 
massive pillars. This was entirely painted, and bore 
in the centre an effigy of Duke Francesco on horseback, 
in his ducal robes, with the ducal arms and those of the 
King of the Romans above. This triumphal arch was 
square in shape, and ornamented with pictures of 
antique feasts, and the imperial insignia and the arms of 
my husband were placed on the side toward the high 
altar. Beyond this arch were steps that led up to a 
great tribunal erected in front of the high altar. On the 
left was a small tribunal from which the Gospel was 
sung, hung with gold brocade; on the right was another 
adorned with silver brocade; and behind these tribunals 
were seats ranged in order and covered with draperies, 
for the councillors and other feudatories and gentlemen. 
In the extreme corners of the choir were two raised 
stages, one for the singers, the other for the trumpeters, 
and in the space between were seated the doctors of 
law and medicine, with their birettas and capes lined 
with fur, each according to his rank. The altar itself 
was sumptuously adorned with all the silver vases and 
images of saints which you saw in the Rochetta when 
you were at Milan. 

''The street leading to the Duomo was beautifully 
decorated. There were columns wreathed with ivy 
all the way from the bastions of the Castello to the end 
80 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

of the piazza, and between the columns were festoons 
of boughs bearing antique devices, and round shields 
with the imperial arms and those of our house, and 
Sforzesca draperies were hung above the street all the 
way from the Castello to the Duomo. Many of the doors 
had their pillars wreathed with ivy and green boughs, so 
that the season seemed to be May-time rather than 
November. On both sides of the street, the walls were 
hung with satin, excepting those houses which have 
lately been adorned with frescoes, and which are no 
less beautiful than tapestries. 

*'The queen wore a vest of crimson satin, embroidered 
in gold thread and covered with jewels. Her train was 
immensely long, and the sleeves were made to look like 
two wings, which had a very fine appearance. On her 
head she wore an ornament of magnificent diamonds 
and pearls. And to add to the solemnity of the occa- 
sion, Messer Galeazzo Pallavicino carried the train, 
and Count Conrado de' Lando and Count Manfredo 
Torniello each of them supported one of the sleeves. 
Before the bride walked all the chamberlains, courtiers, 
officials, gentlemen, feudatories, and last of all the coun- 
cillors. The queen seated herself in the centre of the 
car, the Duchess Isabella being on her right, and myself 
on her left. The said duchess wore a 'camora ' of crim- 
son satin, with gold cords looped over it, as in my gray 
cloth 'camora' which you must remember; and I wore 
my purple velvet 'camora', with the purple pattern of 
the links worked in massive gold and green and white 
enamel, about six inches deep on the front and back of 
my bodice, and on both sleeves. The 'camora' was 
lined with cloth of gold, and with it I wore a girdle of 

81 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

St. Francis made of large pearls, with a beautiful clear- 
cut ruby for clasp." 

She goes on to describe in great detail the grand per- 
sonages participating and the twelve chariots of gold 
and crimson velvet, filled with noble women clad in the 
most gorgeous and sumptuous manner, including the 
ladies of the queen in her livery with tan coloured 
"camoras '^and mantles of bright green satin. Then fol- 
lows an account of the marriage ceremony in detail, 
describing the magnificent vestments of the clergy, the 
music, the blare of trumpets, the peal of the organ, the 
ringing of bells; and after the ceremony everyone walked 
to the gates of the Duomo with the great dignitaries 
carrying the train and sleeves of the queen. 

She rode under a baldacchino of white damask and 
gold, lined throughout with ermine. After this a mar- 
vellously apparelled procession of clergy, foreign diplo- 
mats, Milanese gentry, courtiers, ladies of the queen 
followed by their ladies and others, all making the most 
splendid show. One writer has it that "Nothing but 
silver brocade could be seen and the worst dressed per- 
son there was, wore crimson velvet, and that all this 
with the great abundance of lace and gold chains worn 
by the knights, made a magnificent appearance." 

The trousseau of the bride was valued at 100,000 du- 
cats. It consisted of the most elaborate robes, expen- 
sive jewels, gold and silver plate, altar fittings, bed 
hangings, mirrors, perfumes, linens, carpets, house 
trappings, and other personal and house adornments. 

All this seems impossible to conceive as representing 
one only of the several autocratic court centres of north- 
ern Italy about the time of the discovery of America by 
82 





THIRD QUARTER OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY. COSTUMES ARE EX- 
CELLENT EXAMPLES OF THE REFINEMENT AND SIMPLICITY OF THE 
RENAISSANCE, WHERE NEITHER CLASSIC NOR MEDLEVAL INFLU- 
ENCE IS VERY APPARENT. 




THIRD QUARTER OF THE FIETEENTH CENTURY. FURTHER EX- 
AMPLES OF THE CHARM OF UNAFFECTED HUMANISM BEFORE THE 
DESIRE FOR SHOW DISPLACED TASTE, 




LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING EARLY STAGES OF THE RE- 
NAISSANCE IN VENICE, WHICH WAS A HALF CENTURY LATER THAN 
FLORENCE IN ITS EXPRESSION. OBSERVE EMPIRE SUGGESTION 
IN CUT. 




LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. INTERESTING MALE COSTUMES OF. 
THIS PERIOD IN VENICE. PLEASING DETAILS MAY BE ADAPTED TO 
DRESS FOR MODERN WOMEN. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

Columbus, the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the 
death of Lorenzo the Magnificent at Florence and the 
accession of Louis XII of France. More than this we 
are assured that every article designed and used in this 
period of the Renaissance was not only wonderful in 
workmanship but rich and beautiful in design. 

The court of the Duke of Urbino was perhaps the 
most aristocratic of all the Renaissance centres. It 
certainly represented the most perfect balance of art 
and learning, with a cultivation of the most ideal social 
manners and customs of the time. Isabella, writing 
to her husband of a visit there, says: *'This palace is 
far finer than I ever expected. Besides the natural 
beauty of the place, it is very richly furnished with 
tapestries, hangings, and silver plate; and I must tell 
you that in all the different rooms which I have occu- 
pied in this Duke's different homes, the hangings have 
never been moved from one place to another, and 
from the first moment when I arrived at Gubbio until 
now, I have been entertained more and more sumptu- 
ously every day; indeed I could not have been more 
highly honoured if I had been a bride! I have re- 
peatedly begged my hosts to reduce these expenses 
and treat me in a more familiar way but they will not 
listen to this. This is, no doubt, the doing of the Duke, 
who is the most generous of men. He holds a fine court 
now, and lives in royal splendour, and governs the 
state with great wisdom and humanity, to the satis- 
faction of all his subjects." 

Toward the close of the High Renaissance (1528) 
Isabella went to her old home at Ferrara to assist in 
the triumphant entry of her nephew Ercole and his 

83 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

bride, the Princess Renee, who was the daughter of 
Louis XII, on their return from France after their 
marriage. The festivities at Modena included a fort- 
night of parties, pageants, balls, and hunting fetes, 
after which the royal pair went to their summer palace, 
Belvedere, the description of which gives an idea of the 
summer palaces of the ducal families and the social 
results of humanism at the end of the first quarter of 
the sixteenth century. This, of course, is but one of sev- 
eral gorgeous palaces belonging to one of the many 
dukes of the small north Italian states, each of which 
was of sufficient importance to maintain its own ac- 
credited ambassadors to the great powers such as Spain, 
France, and England. 

Bordoni wrote for Isabella: ''This wonderful summer 
palace with its halls and chapels decorated by Dossi, 
its stately terraces and stairs leading down to the river, 
and delicious gardens planted with orange groves and 
box hedges, and adorned with marble loggias and 
fountains." Here the bridal pair spent a night before 
actually entering the city of Ferrara. 

"The streets were hung with red, green, and white 
draperies; and a hundred pages in black satin livery, 
with rose-coloured caps and stockings, preceded by the 
Spanish court jester, Diego, riding on a dromedary, 
led the way. The bride followed, borne in a crimson 
litter under a golden baldacchino, and attended by 
Madame de Soudise on horseback, and fourteen French 
ladies in a chariot." The plague had lately ravaged 
Ferrara, and the chronicler's description of the misery 
of its inhabitants forms a melancholy contrast to the 
splendour of the bridal procession. ... 
84 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

"Here Marchesa Isabella was awaiting the bride at 
the foot of the grand marble staircase of the Este Pal- 
ace, and led her by the hand into the Sala Grande, which 
was hung with priceless gold and silver tapestries. Here 
the ambassadors presented her with gifts of brocades 
and velvets and damasks, and the chief citizens brought 
oxen and calves, cheese, and capons for her acceptance. 
Renee wore her wedding robe of gold brocade with a 
necklace of enormous pearls and a gold crown on her 
head." 

Venice should contribute, and does, a characteristic 
note in the psychology of costume as unique and allur- 
ing as the enchanting island city itself. Apart from the 
real world, linked with the Orient, haughty, dominating, 
and enticing, she was always a law unto herself. Mol- 
menti tells us that by the middle of the fifteenth cen- 
tury the love of sumptuous dress stimulated a vigorous 
commerce between Venice and all the rest of the known 
world. He mentions strange stuffs from Persia, Dam- 
ascus, and Ormutz; webs of silk from Florence, Milan, 
and the south; fine linens from France, rich and costly 
velvets from Armenia, camelotto from Arabia, and 
coarser stuffs for the common people from Slavonia 
and Servia. There were furs, too, from Russia and the 
north ; lambskin, fox, lynx, sable, marten, vair, and er- 
mine; all of which were made up into robes, collars, and 
lapels. There were also gems and precious stones, 
strange and costly, from the East and from neighbouring 
states. 

Buttons are described as very plentiful and made of 
gold, silver, enamel, amber, crystals, and pearls; gold 
and jewelled clasps also of marvellous workmanship are 

85 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

repeatedly mentioned, as are countless belts made 
of filagree of silver and gold. The neck was adorned 
with strings of pearls and heavy chains made in East- 
ern fashion. Gloves of leather, chamois, or silk were 
universally worn by the nobles, and foot-gear is de- 
scribed in many shapes, colours, and materials: cloth- 
of-gold with red embroidery, silk or leather, for slippers, 
and sometimes velvet ornamented with jewels; and 
there were sandals for the common people made of cork 
or wood. 

We read of one lady of quality in Venice about 1486 
who owned robes of crimson velvet embroidered with 
pearls and sapphires, also a green figured velvet mantle 
lined with ermine, bodices of richest silk and finest 
linen embroidered in gorgeous oriental fashion, with 
separate sleeves for each of her robes; a petticoat of 
exquisite Alexandrian coloured satin and green Floren- 
tine brocade, scarlet waist and belts fringed with rare 
gems in many colours; belts, too, of damascened silver 
lined with green; cloth caps set off with silver and gold 
scales, red shoes, coloured hose to be worn with slippers 
of peacock blue satin worked with gold embroidery 
and jewels; different gems for each robe, to be worn on 
her head, hands, and about her neck. 

It is interesting to see how the range of colour (gen- 
erally primitive) in intensity used by the Venetians 
seems to agree with the vari-hued intensities of the sky, 
water, and general surroundings of the city itself. 
This is undoubtedly due to the natural desire for colour 
stimulent inherent in the Venetians because of their 
environment, though it may also be attributed to the 
feeling that the individual expressing an idea must out- 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

do his surroundings in colour splendour, or be passed by 
unnoticed. It may then be assumed to be the result 
of an over-stimulated colour appetite, encouraged by 
the vanity of seK exposition. 

Molmenti declares, however, that even in this period 
the Venetians cared only for the outward appearance of 
luxury, and he scathingly denounces them for their 
lack of cleanliness and inattention to their personal 
linen. 

In the last quarter of the century, about 1476, the 
most stringent sumptuary laws were passed regulating 
the cost of robes, the kinds of buttons and belts, length of 
trains, value of jewels, amount and kinds of furs. They 
even limited the cost of foods, and bed-hangings, in a 
frantic attempt to curb the growing tendency to "ruin- 
ous extravagance." The Doge and his family only 
were exempt, but as always happens, ways and means 
were found to evade the law, and one writer declares 
that "the sumptuous show went on" as if nothing had 
been done to stay it; yet how perfectly is even this pic- 
ture of wealth and sumptuousness in accord with the 
feeling and appearance of this wonder-city and its 
surroundings. 

In the first quarter of the sixteenth century the 
sumptuary laws being relaxed, commerce having taken 
a fresh start, wealth was greatly increased, luxury and 
the love of amusement being still more rampant. 
Molmenti has this to say of the gorgeous spectacle 
created by the costumes of the Venetian aristocracy: 
"Clothed in the splendour of these gorgeous stuffs and 
wearing such exquisite jewellery, the great ladies of Venice 
appeared with the majesty and grace of so many queens 

87 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

. . . By the light of the candles In the palace halls, 
by the light of the sun on the promenade at San Marco 
or Santo Stefano, these golden ornaments, these gems, 
the yellow taffetas, the velvets of crimson, green, pale 
blue, the silks of cardinal red, 'all' alessandrina,' the 
damasks figured in gold or silver, turquoise blue, olive- 
green, carnation-rose, the murrey-coloured brocade 
with gold and crimson patterns, the silvery camlets 
with purple stripes, the watered silks shot with green 
and purple, the pure white, or lapis lazuli or pomegran- 
ate dyes of the cloth, furnished a pageant of colour such 
as Venice alone could display. 

"The very personification of this feminine sumptu- 
ousness was, of course, the Dogaressa herself; she had 
her place in the great public ceremonies, where she ap- 
peared in the Piazza surrounded by her ladies and gen- 
tlemen-in-waiting; her robes were of gold brocade 
lined with ermine, her train was of enormous length, 
and she wore a ducal bonnet of gold studded with gems, 
from which a light veil of silk fell over her shoulders; 
her bosom was ablaze with diamonds and pearls." 

About this time earrings were invented and for kinds 
and style, a writer tells us no object of feminine adorn- 
ment ever was so widely employed. A complete rev- 
olution in dress was produced by the invention of lace, 
which has been called "the most aristocratic of per- 
sonal adornment." This at once assumed its place 
as a graceful accessory to garments, even to gloves, 
shoes, dressing-gowns, chemises, petticoats, hose, hand- 
kerchiefs, and other articles of underclothing. Hand- 
kerchiefs made of finest linen were striped with gold 
thread and fringed with lace; silk gloves of various col- 
88 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

ours were embroidered with gold thread and often with 
gems and precious stones. Finally gloves wholly made 
of lace appeared, and later the buttons of shoes were 
made of the same material. Ruffs were trimmed with 
rosettes of pearls, clocks embroidered with golden 
bosses, fastenings for robes and bodices were studded 
with gems and the mountings of fans were gilded and set 
with jewels. 

Methods of arranging the hair were constantly under- 
going change. In the Cinquecento fashion required 
that the forehead should be left bare and an informant 
observes: "The hair was for the most part false at that, 
bought from the country folks." It was combed in 
various ways, curled, plaited, dressed like a crescent 
moon with its horns turned up, or twisted into the 
form of a pyramid. In the middle of the sixteenth 
century a towering tupe came into vogue. Great 
pains were taken to achieve the blond type and all 
sorts of hair bleaches were invented for that purpose. 

Variety of fashion in dressing the hair brought in 
also a great variety of head-dresses. There were 
caps of lace, coifs with two lace lapels hanging to the 
shoulders, set with pearls, and gemmed coifs of gold and 
silver thread; hoods stiffened with wire, frontlets for the 
forehead embroidered with pearls in pear form and 
tiaras of gold and precious stones. 

Men's costumes on the other hand were simpler, less 
subject to changes of fashion, retaining something of 
their earlier serious and dignified quality. They were, 
however, made of the richest stuffs, and presented, even 
when worn by the middle classes, a magnificent appear- 
ance. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

When we remember all the wealth of art expressed 
in the High Renaissance, its majesty of conception, its 
richness in expression and the perfection of its execution, 
and when we consider also the mighty ideals that gave 
this expression birth, we welcome the thought that the 
world was much the same then as it is now, only differ- 
ing somewhat in the proportion of its active elements. 
Authentic documents tell us that during the last two 
decades of the fifteenth century and the first decade of 
the sixteenth, the women of Italy paid more attention to 
fashion than any others in Europe, partly because of 
their wealth and love of display, and partly because 
they believed each new fashion made them more attrac- 
tive than any other had. One writer has it: "The 
people was and is vain, and even some serious men 
among it actually looked on a handsome and becoming 
costume as an element in the perfection of an in- 
dividual." 

In Florence it is said, however, that well into the 
sixteenth century the most cultured women created 
their own fashions to suit their particular talents; and 
we might add that these styles probably suited as well 
their own conceptions of their appearance. This double 
ideal in regard to dress surely belongs to cultured people 
only. A little later we find an author bewailing the 
tendency to destroy art and class distinction, saying, 
"There is no longer any difference in the appearance of 
the wives of the nobles and the burghers," a condition 
akin to what most of us are beholding in these opening 
decades of the twentieth century. In Venice one wo- 
man, a baker's wife, is berated for wearing a gold em- 
broidered dress entirely fit for a duchess. Just how 
90 




END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. TUSCAN LADY OF THE HIGH 
RENAISSANCE. NOTICE PARTICULARLY THE METHOD OF DRESS- 
ING THE HAIR AND THE MATERIALS OF THE DRESS. 




LAST HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. FLORENTINE RENAIS- 
SANCE LADY SIMPLY AND DECORATIVELY DRESSED. 







END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. MADONNA, SHOWING HOW IN 
CONCEPTION, EXPRESSION, AND COSTUME THE HUMANISTIC IDEA 
HAS SUPPLANTED THE SPIRITUAL. 




LATTER PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. RENAISSANCE LADY 
RICHLY DRESSED. PARTICULAR ATTENTION IS CALLED TO THE KIND 
AND QUALITY OF THE JEWELS WORN, ALSO TO THE ARRANGEMENT 
OF THE HAIR AND TO THE DRESS MATERIALS. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

much like a duchess she actually was, or looked, when 
thus clothed, we are not told. An active imagination 
and present data may help us, however. In another 
document the writer bewails the senseless and ludicrous 
idolatry of whatever comes from France, though the 
fashions which were received from the French were said 
to have been seen first in Italy. 

In describing women Berkhardt, in his "Civilization 
of the Renaissance," remarks: "We may note in par- 
ticular the efforts of the women to alter their appearance 
by all the means which the toilet could afford. In no 
country of Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire 
was so much trouble taken to modify the face, colour of 
the skin, and the growth of the hair, as in Italy at this 
time. All tended to the formation of a conventional 
type, at the cost of the most striking and transparent 
deceptions. 

"No sort of ornament was more in use than false hair, 
often made of white or yellow silk. The law de- 
nounced and forbade it in vain. . . . 

"The ideal colour sought for both in natural and arti- 
ficial hair, was blond. And as the sun was supposed 
to have the power of making the hair of this colour, 
many ladies would pass their whole time in the open air 
on sunshiny days. Dyes and other mixtures were also 
freely used for the same purpose. Besides all these we 
meet with an endless list of beautifying waters, plasters, 
and paints for every single part of the face — even for 
the teeth and eyelids — of which in our day we can form 
no conception." 

Against this extravagance and "ungodly exploita- 
tion of themselves" the great church reformers hurled 

91 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

their anathemas and condemnations, and undoubtedly 
the uplift societies of their time gave them able as- 
sistance. "O women, by the unspeakable length of 
your trains, by your painted faces, your unseemly 
behaviour in holy places, your immodesty, etc.," thun- 
dered Fra Bernardino, and then he goes on to consign 
the people assisting in the practices or in the spread of 
these infections, to such places as he thought suited 
their particular needs. Both he and Savonarola had 
scaffold altars built in the public squares with a statue 
of the devil upon them, and they besought the people 
to become cleansed and saved by throwing their idols 
upon the altars, that they might be publicly burned. 
Many hundreds responded and in their "holy frenzy" 
committed their ''earthly trumpery" to the flames. 
Frenzied conversions seemed to be of doubtful stability, 
however, for even in this case, all of Savonarola's elo- 
quence availed but for a very brief season, and we are 
assured that not only was his own downfall contingent 
upon, or greatly hastened by, his stand in this matter, 
but still worse, that these very converts soon became 
"wilder than before" and that "their shamelessness" was 
copied by many others who before had only looked on. 

As the madness for ornament increased we find ladies 
"spending their hours at their mirrors when they 
should have been attending to domestic duties." 
Others, we are told, were hours each day with a special- 
ist who treated and painted their faces and "frizzled 
and curled their hair." Lucrezia Borgia often spent 
the entire day at her toilet, that she might surely out- 
shine any of her competitors when they assembled for 
their amusements in the evening. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

A great lady, Caterina Sforza, collected more than 
five hundred recipes, more than one third of which 
were "magically charmed lotions" for the complexion. 
She highly recommends one of them — a bath in the 
liquid obtained by the distillation of a whole dove 
with its feathers on, prepared with incantations. 
Ladies used vine-water, bean-water, rosemary, verjuice, 
verdigris, and oil of talc on their faces and the exposed 
parts of their necks and arms. This makes modern 
beauty specialists seem tame indeed. In Venice it is 
recorded that ladies were never at a loss for means to 
preserve the softness and beauty of their skin. They 
applied a slice of raw veal to their cheeks at night, 
after it had been soaked in fresh milk for several hours 
before using, and sometimes in alum water, extract of 
peach-stones, beans, lemon-seeds, breadcrumbs, and 
vinegar. A thousand rules existed to soften the hands 
and to make the nails rosy. 

The passion for perfumes developed into a mania. 
Every article of clothing, even for mourning, was per- 
fumed and at festivals the horses and mules were highly 
scented. Venice records the universal use of musk- 
amber, aloes, myrrh, peppermint, jonquil, Indian plum, 
cinnamon, ammonum, cloves, and other scents for baths 
and lotions, and also for pouring about in public 
places. 

At about this time the first books on the toilet were 
published, and practitioners appeared, to relieve those 
who could afford it of the onerous duties of self make-up. 
This innovation is commented on as a great relief to 
the fine ladies who were already so ''worn" by the ar- 
duous duties of self preparation that they were unable 

93 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

to rise to the social responsibilities of amusement and 
enjoyment. 

Homage and thanks are undoubtedly forthcoming 
in every age for these delicate inventions which have 
relieved us from personal responsibility in such im- 
portant matters, that we may be entirely free to rest, 
meditate, and make ready for events of greater mo- 
ment. Another debt of gratitude to the Renaissance. 

It is obvious that although the consciousness of the 
High Renaissance was saturated with the highest ideals 
of culture, refinement and beauty, its appreciation and 
its creation, there were also present in the minds of men 
the same appetites, vanities, idolatries, and sense grat- 
ifications, peculiarly human and quite universal; and, 
as in previous and subsequent periods, these foibles and 
vanities found their most ready field for exploitation in 
matters pertaining to the costumes of the period, domi- 
nated as they were in the earlier part by sincerity, 
charm, and beauty; in the middle part by luxury, dig- 
nity, and richness ; and in the later decades by sumptuous- 
ness, show, and affectation. This last aspect was the 
beginning of the end so far as the pure ideal of the 
Renaissance could be expressed. It therefore remained 
for the rest of the century to prove the decline and spe- 
cific decay of this ideal and for the subsequent century 
to effect its dissemination throughout Europe, and 
finally throughout the civilized world. 



94 




ABOUT FIFTEEN HUNDRED. MALE COSTUME. NOTE POSSIBILITIES 
FOR ADAPTATION IN CUT AND MATERIALS AND IN THE HAT. 




EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY. CHARACTERISTIC FASHIONS OF THE 
FLORENTINE LADIES OF THIS PERIOD. 



CHAPTER THREE 

THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND 
ENGLAND 



UNCONSCIOUSLY at first and then consciously the 
great new force of humanism had by the middle of the 
fifteenth century become the all controlling urge of 
social life in Italy. Its expression was correspondingly 
subject to the consideration of convenience and com- 
fort, as well as luxury and show, as a natural sequence 
of the conscious knowledge of the physical needs and 
possibilities of the body in its relation to the material 
universe. 

Looked at from this angle of vision a new view of life 
became universal, the natural consequence being the 
organization of a different social expression that de- 
veloped so rapidly as to reach complete fruition in the 
first quarter of the next century. Alone and quite iso- 
lated from other countries this new institution sprang 
up and developed in Italy, based on the creeds of the 
ancients, interpreted in the new light of humanism, 
where the intellect and senses were finding an equal 
satisfaction, and the mediaeval spiritual idea lan- 
quished. It was, however, very different in the rest of 
Europe. We read of England as, by comparison with 
Italy, "a barbaric country, in which food and warlike 
prowess were the chief concerns of men." In France, 

95 



PYSCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

devastated by wars, with its spiritual ecstasy broken 
and no longer a source of power, the old system was 
still in a death struggle with newly awakened, unformu- 
lated, and unexpressed desires. 

The period of Louis XI (1461-1483) witnessed the 
final combat the details of which are perhaps too well 
in mind to require repetition. The contest between 
liberty and servitude, relics and reality, justice and 
revenge, reached its climax during the half frenzied 
reign of this, the strangest of all French kings, in whose 
time there was no firmly established social order to be 
expressed, though as in all evolution, every event was in 
reality a step in social progress toward the general ideal, 
since it was both a displacement of the old and a sug- 
gestion of the new. At the death of Louis XI in 1483, 
Charles VIII was but fourteen years old and wholly un- 
acquainted with conditions at home or elsewhere. For 
five years, while his sister Anne acted as Regent and his 
two brothers-in-law (one of whom, the Duke of Orleans, 
was appointed President of the Council) fought for 
supremacy in the state, Charles attempted to familiarize 
himself with the powers and possibilities of his new 
position. In 1488 he threw off the yoke of bondage to 
his sister, married Anne of Brittany, and thus added the 
Duchy of Brittany to the French crown. 

Charles, still practically ignorant of the details of 
state, extremely imaginative and romantic, was, writes 
an admirer: *'the sweetest prince that ever lived, but 
irresolute and impressionable"; a splendid subject to 
play the part in the Renaissance which he was destined 
to take. It was this monarch and his army of courtiers 
on the way to conquer Naples and win it back to the 
96 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

house of Anjou, to whom it had once belonged, who in 
passing through Milan found the Renaissance at its 
height at the court of Beatrice d'Este, learning and the 
arts supreme at Florence, and the church of Rome about 
convinced that a new aesthetic phase of holiness would 
prove vastly advantageous. 

Picture for a moment the surprise and amazement of 
these men, born and reared in the austere conditions 
under which the subjects of Louis XI lived, introduced 
as if by magic into the transcendent splendour and cul- 
ture of the High Renaissance in Italy. An interesting 
picture of the spiritual and economic conditions in the 
great cities of Italy is given us by Mary Duclaux in 
her short history of France, where she says: ''There 
reigned a great wickedness in the beautiful cities of 
Italy and the people took the French for an army of de- 
liverers." Let us not only take the testimony of the 
French, but also quote as witnesses the words of Marin 
Sanudo, Venetian secretary: "There is no city in Italy, 
not Rome or Naples, not Milan, Florence, Bologna, 
Ferrara, nay not my own Venice even — that is holier 
than the cities of the plain. But how beautiful were 
Sodom and Gomorrah! What angels were painted in 
the chapels of Florence where Savonarola in the pulpit 
welcomed with his fiery eloquence the coming of the 
French! and Milan with the frescoes of Leonardo fresh 
upon the walls ! And Ariosto at Ferrara ! And Venice 
where the girl Madonnas of Gian Bellini were not yet 
all begun ! And the pope at Rome was Borgia ! and the 
preacher at Florence was Savonarola!" 

Amidst all this strange extravagance of beauty, 
vice, and virtue, the king of France moved like a 

97 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

" quaint elfin child." Mary Duclaux goes on to tell how 
the French soldiers shied stones at Leonardo's study of 
Duke Sforza, and how the masses of common people 
praised the French for their deliverance, and how they 
wept with emotional delight. Women gave their jewels 
to pay the soldiers, and the men threw open the gates 
of the cities, that there might be no opposition to their 
taking whatever they chose, so worn and tired were 
they with the tyranny of the nobles that had made 
possible the poverty and the sumptuousness of this 
epoch. The effect was electrifying and the example 
contagious. While they marvelled they tried to un- 
derstand. 

With the brief success of Charles and his hasty return 
to France we are not concerned, but in the ideas, 
feelings, and actual materials which his soldiers took 
back with them to France, we have a deep interest, for 
this constituted the entering wedge that brought about 
the complete collapse of the old structure in France, so 
soon afterward followed by the enthusiastic reception 
and development of the Renaissance idea by Francis I 
and his court at the beginning of the sixteenth century. 

We recall that it was in France that the art called 
Gothic was indigenous, that here the idea of mediseval- 
ism as an imaginative spiritual expression was most 
nobly and beautifully comprehended and externalized. 
An art, somewhat grave and to one who thinks in 
terms of purely human reality, perhaps a bit austere. 
Asceticism had developed the theory that the very 
existence of matter should be ignored. Painters and 
sculptors attenuated bodies until they represented an 
idea, not a reality. Clothes delicately draped upon the 
98 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

figures had the one purpose of serving to immateriaHze 
the body. 

Greek art on the other hand sought to express by the 
body itself, its positions, its actions, and its draperies, 
all that was possible of natural material beauty. The 
Renaissance in Italy sought the union and balance of 
these two aims; but in its practices it showed what 
was likely to happen when human appetites and senses 
gave battle to the Greek spirit, which required sub- 
servience to the ideal of beautiful material development, 
instead of a mastery of both the spiritual and aesthetic 
ideals of mediae valism and of the Greeks. 

France, more thoroughly impregnated with the spirit 
of asceticism, more practically committed to the 
institution of Chivalry, and less influenced in the Middle 
Ages by the lives of the ancients, was like a disabled and 
partly wrecked ship, tossed about and lacking ob- 
jective, rudder, or wheel. The old formulas were dis- 
placed, no longer functioning, and the new were un- 
known, but the people themselves were keen, sensitive, 
and abnormally creative. 

The king, Charles VIII, went over heart, soul, and 
body to the vanities of the world. Official court life in 
France was given up to the pursuit of sensuous luxury, 
siunptuousness, frippery, and appetite enjoyment, to the 
despair of the Platonists or adherents to the classic, who 
immediately espoused the Greek conception of material 
culture rather than the Baroque ideal of Venice and 
Milan. Castiglione was, however, not very much moved 
by this failure of the French to grasp what he thought 
was the true sense of the Renaissance, for he says, 
"there are fools everywhere," and he might truthfully 

99 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

have added — in every time and concerned with every 
subject. 

Both of these conceptions were, however, trans- 
planted by Charles VIII and his army. Both were 
planted securely in France and both have developed in 
mortal combat with each other there and everywhere 
they have come together since; first one rising into 
prominence and dominating the creative and construc- 
tive thought, and then the other. 

How strongly every period is influenced by its 
literature, and how clearly literature shows the trend of 
thought in the period, we are aware. The enormous 
effect of the classic manuscripts of Italy, and the 
popularity of certain authors, was but hinted at in our 
treatment of the Benaissance in the last chapter. It 
seems that if we would understand the social art ex- 
pression of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in 
France, or comprehend the peculiar charm of that of the 
eighteenth century, a particular reference to at least 
one writer among the Ancients is imperative. This is 
partly because of his ideal political scheme, but more 
particularly because of his theory of "Platonic love," 
which seemed to be exactly what the people both in 
Italy and France were looking for to express their new 
conceptions and to provide an unlimited field for 
personal experiment. 

Space here limits any considerable discussion of this 
theory, but necessity seemingly compels us to take its 
influence into full account in forming our conception of 
the transformation of all domestic relations, while a 
knowledge of its meaning and power is essential to an 
ordinary working imagination, in an attempt to con- 
100 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

ceive the Renaissance idea in France and its effect on 
social life. It is obvious that the visit of Charles VIII 
and his courtiers to Italy, particularly to the court of 
Lodovico at Milan, and to the republic of Florence, was 
important in opening the way for the development that 
soon came. 

Charles died in 1498, and Louis XII ascended the 
throne, which he occupied until 1515, when the ac- 
cession of Francis I took place. He, too, laid claim to 
the dukedom of Milan and sent an army to make good 
his demand. This was another link in the chain of 
circumstances which made the French familiar with the 
results of Renaissance life, before they had even con- 
ceived its idea. They, at the same time, saw some- 
thing of the workings of the ideal at close range and, 
contrasted with the somewhat antiquated and out- 
grown institutions under which they lived, it made an 
irresistible appeal both to their imagination and to their 
senses. In 1509 Venice fell to the French, and no 
doubt its luxury, its sumptuous follies, and its grandiose 
expression made a distinct appeal to those who never 
before had thought in such terms. 

It must be remembered at this point that the dis- 
covery of America in 1492, by diverting the trade of 
Spain, France, and England from the east to the west, 
effected the final ruin of the Italian states, Venice and 
Genoa in particular. This made them an easy prey to 
foreign invasion, and explains their loss of power and 
consequent decline of influence, which by the eighteenth 
century resulted in transferring creative art inspiration 
to France, whose art mode dominated civilized Europe. 

For his third wife Louis XII married Mary, daughter 

101 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of Henry VII (Tudor) of England. We may connect 
the movement in the two countries in this way, although 
no notable effect was felt in England until well into the 
reign of Henry VIII. 

A glimpse of the contagion of the idea of dress for 
personal effect, in France, may be had from a quotation 
which Ely, in his *' Women of the Renaissance," 
attributes to Anne of France. "She was sure," he 
says, ''that simplicity formerly had been pushed too 
far. To neglect to study appearance, to cultivate false 
modesty, is to commit an unseemly and most dishonest 
act. To dress must be considered a duty, said she." 

Another incident reveals the power of fashion and the 
benefits that accrue to him who follows or contributes 
thereto. From Italy came the mandate, high-necked 
ruffs only might be worn. The complexion and hands 
became objects of great care. The hair, before sadly 
neglected in France, was treated, and in the "mode of 
Venice." One historian tells us of the kindly thought of 
Providence in furnishing Mary of England with natural 
golden locks, thus saving her the trouble of making them 
so, and by this same ingratiating her into the hearts of 
all, because of this courtesy. It is related that by 1512 
"fashion was omnipotent," in fact, we find Anne of 
France by this time violently rebelling against the 
mandate of "slim figures and insufficient coverings, 
stifling in summer and freezing in winter." She speaks 
of health and even life itself as being no longer con- 
sidered, and believed that if this should continue no 
woman could be long considered in her right mind. 
Another lady of the same court is made to say of 
fashion's power: "To the natural graces of a lady now 
102 




FIRST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. DUKE OF FERRARA, 
SHOWING COSTUME OF A NOBLE OF THE HIGH RENAISSANCE. 




EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. RENAISSANCE COSTUMES 
WORN BY THE COURTESANS OF VENICE. THE SUGGESTION OF 
THE EMPIRE IN CUT, THE TREATMENT OF THE HAIR AND OF THE 
SLEEVES SHOULD BE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

they prefer a stuffed and padded ideal, for alas the 
majority of women a dialogue of Plato could not hold a 
candle to a conversation with a dressmaker," a remark 
that might find application later than the sixteenth 
century. 

More gradually, but as surely, the intellectuals 
gained in number, following the theory of Plato that the 
soul should be clothed instead of the body — that is, he 
affirmed a relation between colour, form, and texture 
and the soul quality, or the quality of personality. His 
followers besought men to develop a soul personality 
and to express this in their clothes. This ideal was 
surely higher than the decadent conception of Venice, 
making a stronger appeal to the imagination and 
aesthetic sense of the best of the French people. It was 
consequently successful in the reign of Francis I, 
espoused by Madame d'Etampes and Dianne de 
Poitiers and other great ladies who formed the central 
group in determining the form of culture in the court of 
this great monarch. 

While not minimizing the importance of the work of 
Charles VIII and Louis XII in introducing France to 
the Renaissance, we remember that it was then in 
reality only an introduction to the practices and the 
crystallized results, not to the idea that produced them. 
It was at the court of Francis I (1515 to 1547) and of 
Henry II (1547 to 1559) that the newly presented ideal 
was nursed and grew up. 

Contemporary with Francis I was Charles V, Em- 
peror of Germany, King of Spain, Count of Flanders, 
and lord of all Italy. He was also controller of the 
wealth of the Indies, Peru and Mexico, while his 

103 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

court was the richest in the world and his power tre- 
mendous. 

Henry VIII of England came to the throne in 1509, 
and was the third most important monarch in Christen- 
dom during this great period. The sixteenth century 
is the history of the development of complete political 
autocracy and of the adaptation of the Renaissance idea 
of social life to these countries, with the aid of all that 
was opened up by the discovery and exploration of the 
new world with its untold resources and its contribution 
of new materials and ideas. All the countries were 
closely associated with Rome through the Vatican. 
Leo X, a son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was Pope, and 
he was no less committed to humanism and its practices 
than was his illustrious father, the only particular 
difference being that his was a more material humanism. 
This influence assisted in the dissemination of humanis- 
tic ideas. 

The court of Francis I was remarkable for its variety, 
brilliance, splendour, and its astonishing gaiety and 
freedom. An atmosphere of reserve, formality, and 
dignity had lingered even through the entire reign of 
Louis XII, but with the accession of Francis I full 
rein was given to the spread of the new imported 
ideas and the practices they inculcated. 

At this court were to be found such literary geniuses 
as Clemont Marot, the satirist and poet, who was valet 
de chambre to the king, and who was himseK surrounded 
by other wits of lesser note of French and Italian 
origin. Marot himself has been called both the Spencer 
and the Chaucer of France. It is in this period, too, that 
Frangois Rabelais lived and wrote his satirical romances 
104 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

in which he castigated the court and unmercifully 
pounded the clergy and the nobles for their vanity, 
frivolity, and unmanly conduct. His "History of 
Gargantua and Pantagruel" may be extravagant in its 
execution, but it seems to open the way to a somewhat 
transparent judgment of social conditions during his reign. 

This reign and that of Henry II are so closely associ- 
ated that they cannot be entirely divorced even from 
the first. The young Dauphin, Henry, at a very early 
age married Catherine de' Medici, of vivid memory, 
who was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of 
Urbino, great grand daughter of Lorenzo the Magnifi- 
cent, and therefore closely related to two popes: 
Clement VII, who died two years after her marriage, 
and Leo X, both of whom were of the immediate family. 
Her marriage was arranged by the former, who used 
her in an intrigue with Charles V. Undoubtedly one 
of the cleverest, most sensible and most determined 
women in history, she was still a "woman of the 
bourgeoisie," hated by the French for her Italian origin 
as well as for her lowly birth, and wholly out of sym- 
pathy with the French mind and with the character of 
their newly adopted practices. 

In telling us of the tact and shrewdness of Catherine 
in gaining the confidence and esteem of the king, Noel 
WiUiams, in "Henry II, his Court and Time," writes: 

"At her urgent entreaty, he enrolled her in the 
* Petite Bande' — that little company of beautiful, 
witty, and complaisant ladies, of whom Madame 
d'Etampes was the acknowledged chief, whose privilege 
it was to accompany the King on his visits to his differ- 
ent country-seats, to follow him in the chase, to dine and 

105 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

sup at his table, to bandy jests with him (most of which, 
we fear, would scarcely bear repetition in a modern 
drawing-room) and, generally, to do their best to make 
him forget that he was now a middle-aged man in very 
indifferent health. From that time Catherine was 
seldom free from his Majesty's side, and was soon 
firmly established in the royal favour. 

''It is probable that Catherine's success with the 
King was facilitated by the fact that she had had the 
wit to insinuate herseK into the good graces of two 
persons who possessed more influence with Frangois 
than all the rest of the Court combined. One was the 
Queen of Navarre, to whose kind heart the lonely, un- 
loved girl made an irresistible appeal, and whose sym- 
pathy, once enlisted on her side, she was careful to pre- 
serve by a skillful appearance of deference. The other 
was the reigning favourite, Madame d'Etampes, dame 
cT honneur to the princesses, without whose sanction 
no lady was ever admitted to the King's intimate 
circle." 

Catherine brought to France a dot of one hundred 
thousand crowns, besides an additional portion of 
thirty thousand crowns, added by Pope Clement VII in 
return for her renunciation to him of all claims to the 
duchy of Urbino. She also inherited from her mother, 
a French woman, estates valued at ten thousand crowns 
a year. It is illuminating to find that one, Strozzi by 
name, loaned the pope eighty thousand crowns and 
took as security several pieces of jewellery, one of which 
was a ''magnificent jewel," used as a clasp for the 
pontifical cope, which was made from a design by 
CoUini. The next pope, Paul III, demanded that these 
106 




FIRST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. CHARM- 
ING DETAILS SUCH AS THE HAT, BODICE AND SLEEVES, REMIND 
US OF AN EPOCH IN ITALY WHEN NOTHING UGLY WAS CREATED. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

be returned to the crown, since they were not personal 
property but belonged to the church. 

She also had a "magnificent trousseau" all stipulated 
in the marriage contract. *' As to the trousseau," reads 
the contract, "'the Supreme Pontiff will, at his own 
discretion, furnish his illustrious relative with clothing, 
ornaments, and jewels. The jewels will also be valued, 
and a record of them preserved, in order that, in the 
event of her surviving her husband, he may be able to 
recover them or the price of them.' 

''Among these jewels were a set of immense pear- 
shaped pearls, which contemporary writers declare to 
have been worth a kingdom; but as a matter of fact, 
they had been purchased from a Lyons merchant, and 
were only valued at 900 crowns. These pearls were, 
many years later, given by Catherine to her daughter- 
in-law, Mary Stuart. . . . 

''The destiny of these pearls was a singular one, as 
after Mary's untimely end they were appropriated by 
Queen Elizabeth, who wore them without a blush, not- 
withstanding that they had originally come from a 
Pope, and had been blessed and consecrated by him." 

Upon the trousseau properly so called — gowns, 
lingerie, and so forth — ^no expense was spared, and 
everything was of the most regal magnificence. The 
praises bestowed by some historians upon the Pope's 
munificence toward his kinswoman are, however, 
scarcely deserved, since a considerable part of the ex- 
pense incurred appears to have been defrayed by the 
unfortunate Florentines. 

The social art of these two epochs was in the first half 
of the century centred around three women: Madame 

107 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

d'Etampes, for many years the mistress of Francis I, 
and Dianne de Poitiers, who was first mistress of 
Francis I and then of Henry II both as Dauphin and as 
king, and Catherine de' Medici, the lawful wife of the 
Dauphin, and afterward queen of France. This phase 
of court life furnishes one of the most fascinating 
chapters in the history of French society between 1525 
and 1550, looked at from any point of view. 

To this brilliant and, according to previously ac- 
cepted ideals, most profligate of courts, came the most 
beautiful and talented women of France, the most 
distinguished Italian philosophers, artists, poets, and 
great diplomats ; musicians and courtiers from Italy and 
from Spain, together" with a great medley of social 
phenomena, never before assembled even in the most 
brilliant and spectacular days of Chivalry. Culture 
became a mania, the starved imagination and senses of 
France revelling in a newly found means of satisfaction. 

Very early in the period the court became divided into 
two distinct parties, called the "Lilacs" and the 
"Blues." The leader and chief exponent of the former 
was Madame d'Etampes, who collected about her a very 
liberal, luxurious and worldly set of followers. These es- 
poused the Renaissance for its freedom in religious and 
social matters and for the sense pleasure it afforded. The 
leader of the "Blues" was Dianne de Poitiers who 
though rigidly religious, and a woman of unusual intel- 
lect, great poise and beauty, showed a remarkable pre- 
dilection for luxury. She was shrewd and determined, 
was twenty years older than the Dauphin, and as un- 
principled as she was cultured and religious. The path 
of her ascendency over Madame d'Etampes and Cath- 
108 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

erine has been the subject of many books. Her influ- 
ence on the art of the Renaissance in France can 
scarcely be imagined. The Dauphin, naturally one of 
her strongest adherents, being insignificant and incapa- 
ble, left the social side of his court entirely to these two 
estimable women to develop. 

Catherine, before the death of Frances I was practi- 
cally powerless so far as self expression was concerned, 
but she was no less determined on her course, no less 
prepared to make herself felt when the time arrived, 
nor was she one whit less committed to the Italian idea 
than when she arrived in France. Constantly sur- 
rounded by strictly Italian influences she established a 
set with a taste for Italian forms wholly outside of the 
two French interpretations of the Italian conception 
that were developing side by side with her version of it. 

The last decade of the reign of Henry II saw this idea 
begin to dominate, and after his death, while Catherine 
in actuality was the ruler of France, till the accession of 
Henry IV in 1589, it completely held the court. 

It is not possible to divorce costumes from the life 
of this great era, or from the palace which was the 
setting for the costumes, they in turn being the more 
intimate settings for the beautiful and brilliant women 
who directed the development of the period. 

It was in 1530, during this reign, that the hoop for the 
skirt first became fashionable. It was a mode that pre- 
vailed more or less until the days of Henry IV, even 
though the church and the satirists seem to have united 
against it. Although it disappeared in the seventeenth 
century it reappeared in the eighteenth and the nine- 
teenth, in various forms. It was about this time that 

109 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the ''grace and simple elegance of the Middle Ages" 
seems to have been completely lost, while dress became a 
matter of ornamental detail of every description, rather 
than a dignified ensemble. The chief aim from that 
time was seemingly to attract by objective display, or in 
other words, the motive in costume changed entirely 
from distinction to coquetry in this reign, proving a 
strong element ever afterward in the development of 
what we may call the French styles. 

The passion of Francis I for building was unlimited. 
Besides making over the royal feudal castles through 
alterations and additions, into somewhat livable places, 
he caused many new houses to be built, some less 
pretentious than others, but with more intimate possi- 
bilities. Many fine chateaux came into being during 
the first half of the century because of the impetus he 
gave to architecture, and under the inspiration of 
Catherine de' Medici enthusiasm for building was 
continued until near the end of the century. 

Gobelin tapestries were made in the period of 
Francis I. Soon becoming fashionable they added 
greatly to the richness of the interiors, where they 
formed gorgeous backgrounds for the richer costumes 
of the Renaissance. 

The new social order had to be expressed in terms 
suited to the knowledge and feeling for comfort and 
convenience which the Renaissance movement brought 
into life, for luxury and the desire for sumptuous ap- 
pearance were essentials in the mode of living already 
adopted. This led to the fashioning of costume in 
keeping with the quality of the new ideals of the social 
aristocracy, and of their gorgeous settings in the house. 
110 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

Henry II gave Dianne (the Duchess of Valentinois) 
the chateau at Chenonceaux, which became the centre 
of cultured Hfe, where its talented mistress collected 
beautiful and costly ornaments of art from Italy and the 
Far East. Here, too, the king spent much of his time 
and gave audiences. Here the great nobles of the 
court, artists, literary geniuses, cultured women, and 
ambassadors flocked, that they might contribute each 
his talent to the general demonstration of joy and satis- 
faction in the new phase of life. 

Quietly, but with fearful determination, Catherine, 
the queen, planned the ruin of this enchantress, while 
she also developed the Italian ideas and methods which 
she was destined to put in practice earlier than she her- 
self probably supposed, for in 1559 Henry II was 
wounded in the eye at a tournament and died from the 
injury in the thirteenth year of his reign. 

Francis II was sixteen when proclaimed king and 
finally Catherine de' Medici, the dowager queen, was 
made regent. She immediately seized the crown jewels 
from Dianne, expelled her from the court and, sending 
her into the country, took over Chenonceaux. Thus 
she proceeded to break the spell which had been 
cast over the officers of state, the court, and the 
church, and to inaugurate a new political and social 
regime. 

Catherine was scarcely less a master builder than was 
Francis I. She patronized the greatest architects, 
brought in many Italian artist craftsmen, and contri- 
buted no little to the development of the palatial 
housing and royal costuming of autocratic France, as 
it was expressed later in the periods of Louis XIV, XV, 

111 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

and XVI, although she herself always wore black after 
the death of the king. 

Naturally the costumes of the Renaissance in France 
as in other periods, are accessories to the expression of 
the ideas which were the bone and fibre of this in- 
stitution as it was here represented. The traditions of 
an affected, austere, and exhausted medisevalism were 
still strong, particularly with the radical church party, 
to which certain women of the royal house belonged. 
The decadent sumptuousness of Venice, the result of 
complete and open surrender to the senses, which 
Charles VIII embraced and transplanted to his court, 
brought into France an element of vain self -conscious- 
ness, a sensuous personal exploitation and abandon to 
amusement that called out all the inventions of fash- 
ion to furnish appropriate costumes. The classic pla- 
tonic party, committed to beauty for its own sake, and 
for a satisfaction to the mind, called for restraint, an 
intellectual conception of life, and an aesthetic repre- 
sentation founded on reason instead of on the emotions. 
It was the function of art and fashion then as it is now to 
foresee, and sensing these warring elements, to feel out 
which called the loudest for expression, then to provide 
designs and materials to answer these needs. 

There was still one more influence to consider, at 
first more or less confined to the bourgeoisie, but by the 
middle of the century a mighty force even among the 
elect. This was the new religious idea of Protestantism, 
contributing its peculiar qualities to the general mani- 
festation of Renaissance mind. Madame d'Etampes 
had been interested in this movement, as were her 
followers, but it was near the middle of the century that 

in 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

it became fashionable, when its influence began to 
touch social life, modifying amusements, controlling 
certain habits, and contributing an element of austerity 
and peculiarity to the costumes, wherever there was a 
tendency to radicalism on the part of those who took up 
this new dogma. 

Some facts as to modes, or at least as to certain 
articles of apparel, are obtainable from each of the 
periods embraced in the sixteenth century. As the 
social system crystallized under the influence of the 
various phases of the Renaissance, as it manifested it- 
self under the domination of one great controlling 
personality after another, and as the feeling for human- 
ism became an acknowledged fact, first a fashion, then 
a style appeared, each with its peculiar characteristics 
well defined. 

With Francis I the monarch was absolute, but social 
life we recall, was composed of two parties. This 
division meant that in matters of clothing there was one 
party strongly favouring materials in blue and white, 
while the other adhered to tones of violet or purple com- 
bined with gold and sometimes with other colours. 
All these colours were of a rather light value when 
compared with those of Italy, which were deep and 
rich and of a considerable intensity. Dianne herself 
almost uniformly wore white linen or silk muslin with 
blue trimmings and other rich accessories, and this 
style or mannerism was copied in modified form by 
many of her admirers. When Catherine came to 
France not only did she bring with her many costumes 
and furnishings of Italian colour, material, and work- 
manship, but Italian ladies, philosophers, musicians, 

113 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

craftsmen, and artists were found in great numbers 
ever after at the French court. This estabhshed a mode 
copied by not a few of those who were heartily in 
accord with Itahan taste. 

The violent hatred between Dianne and Madame 
d'Etampes and between Dianne and Catherine estab- 
lished three distinct schools or classes of colour and 
taste, each of which was developed and made the most 
of by those who looked on and sought to obtain favour, 
or to exploit for commercial reasons the different taste 
choices of these three women. 

Men of the nobility in the days of Francis I wore 
doublets and trunk-hose. Their stockings were gene- 
rally scarlet and came half way between the knee and 
thigh. A square-toed shoe was popular, and a cap of 
soft material (velvet or damask -silk) trimmed with 
jewels and an ostrich feather, was worn. Men polled 
their hair and wore beards and mustaches. Some- 
times a mantle of velvet or brocade, lined or trimmed 
with ermine or cloth of gold, was thrown over the shoul- 
der, while a jewelled sword was worn at the side. 

The doublet was cut with a full skirt and large sleeves 
which were banded at the wrist with big ruffles. Many 
wore a short coat thrown over the shoulder the sleeves 
of which were full, and there was a large rolling collar. 
Hose were generally slashed and lined with colour and 
at times were also puffed and ruffled. 

Materials were exceedingly rich, "velvets and rare 
brocades" being in common use. Fine silks and dam- 
asks were sought in Italy and the East, while ''laces 
which had come into fashion in Venice" were combined 
in various ways with silk and fine linen in ruffs, hand- 
114 




SECOND QUAKTEK OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. GERMAN. A 
CERTAIN UNIQUE DECORATIVE QUALITY REDEEMS SOMETIMES A 
LACK OF TASTE AND A LOVE OF SHOW IN THE SELECTION AND COM- 
BINATION OF IDEAS ADOPTED FROM AN OUTSIDE SOURCE. 




SECOND QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. A VENETIAN 
ARISTOCRAT WHOSE COSfUME EXPRESSES THE QUALITIES WHICH 
HE WOULD MOST DESIRE TO HAVE MARK HIS TYPE. 




SECOND QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTIJ/CENTURY. A RICH HARMONY 
OF ALL DETAILS. WHEN ANALYZED AND DISASSOCIATED FROM SEX, 
CONTRIBUTES VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS FOR MODERN USE. 




FIRST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SPANISH WITH ITALIAN 
INFLUENCE. A CLIMAX OF ARISTOCRATIC ELEGANCE AND GOOD 
lASTE WITH DECORATIVE QUALITY, BEFITTING A PERSON OF NO- 
BILITY AND CULTURE. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

kerchiefs, and in the petticoat over which the skirt was 
parted in front so that it might clearly be seen. 

The most fashionable fabric was velvet. It was 
generally made up in combinations of blue, of white and 
gold, or of lilac tones with gold and silver, according to 
the court party for whose use it was made. Italian and 
Eastern patterns were however, in vogue, particularly 
after Catherine was able to make her power felt. Robes 
and other garments were often lined with cloth of gold or 
silver, and quantities of gold buttons were used. Cloth 
of gold damask, satins, and other silks were in general 
use. Figured velvets and silk were copied and adapted 
from a great variety of Renaissance patterns, mak- 
ing possible costumes of great magnificence, particu- 
larly as these materials were used for both men and 
women. 

Perhaps the greatest novelty of this period was what 
is known as the habit skirt, always of a delicate and 
gorgeous material, such as Venice cloth of gold or 
silver, or an exceedingly fine silk muslin. This was 
worn much by Dianne and her admirers. 

The sleeves were not attached to the gowns, and were 
made the objects of especial extravagance, being em- 
broidered and otherwise ornamented with gems, furs 
and laces. A three cornered cap called a "Miniver" of 
velvet was strictly fashionable and a ^old cap called 
"Mary Stuart" really appeared in this reign. 

The pages, of whom there were many in attendance at 
court and in all the finest palaces, were generally 
dressed either in the Italian or Spanish fashion, ac- 
cording to the taste of the personage upon whom they 
were in attendance. 

115 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

The system of apprenticeship was general in trades 
and professions. Apprentice boys wore Httle blue 
gowns, light trousers, and sometimes hose of white 
cloth with a tiny round cap of the same material upon 
their heads. 

As the century advanced each new period became more 
individual and more French, more and more the result 
of local and particular influences entirely directed by 
the style of the period, while the real ideal of the 
Renaissance made itself less and less felt; in fact, the 
period of Henry II expressed the culmination of that 
idea and the subsequent periods of the Valois dynasty 
may be said to represent the decline of the Renaissance 
or the gradual transition from the French Renaissance 
to the French styles, which began with Louis XV soon 
after the dawn of the next century. 

The term ''French Renaissance" is often limited to 
the reign of Henry II and the costumes of that time are 
styled Renaissance costumes. This particular mani- 
festation, however, in reality less French than the 
former or the one that followed, was very Italian, a 
little Spanish, and in its earlier forms somewhat French 
in feeling, but toward the end of the period the foreign 
influences dominated, determining the style. 

Francis II reigned but a year (1559 to 1560) and 
being but sixteen years of age when he came to the 
throne, had practically no effect upon the half formed 
styles which followed under the domination of the rest 
of the Valois line, but his charming English queen, 
Mary Stuart, although only in France eight months 
after the king's death, seems to have been responsible 
for some interesting little fashions, among which was the 
116 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

coif or gold cap which bore her name. This was first 
seen in the reign of Francis I and was revived and 
named by Mary Stuart, becoming fashionable during 
the time she was at the French court. She had the 
honour also to have originated the French tri-colour as 
a livery for the Swiss guards. The white represented 
the royal house of France, the blue was for Scotland, in 
memory of the young queen's beloved land, and the red 
for Switzerland, in compliment to the men composing 
the guards. This new guard's livery was modified and 
used by others, and so the idea of the tri-colour became 
permanent and national. 

The costumes of the period of Francis I were but a 
French interpretation of Italian humanism, while the 
French mind and French taste were yet unconquered 
by the invasion of varying ideas, even though they had 
been universally embraced. The subtleties and deli- 
cate imagination of the native Gaul were still unspoiled, 
for the French mind was sensitive to new and more nor- 
mal stimuli, even though there was excess in high places. 

By 1550, during the reign of Henry II, over-indulgence 
in luxury and too great sumptuousness had left a mark, 
and costume responded to the taste for ornament 
and more ornament, show and more show, with a 
lessening regard for the ideals of decorative beauty, and 
for the fitness of things. 

In architectural ornament there was a tendency to 
return to great variety through combining classic with 
heraldic devices. Personal marks of distinction. East- 
ern motifs, and traces of the grotesque are also not un- 
common. Much gilt appeared and coloured medallions 
were in fashion. This mixed manifestation was re- 

117 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

fleeted in costumes, fabrics being more showy. Figured 
brocades in velvet and satin in which vari-coloured 
patterns were shown upon a contrasting background 
were the vogue, while silks deeper and more brilliant 
in colour, and in a greater variety of colours, were 
demanded. The taste for jewels of Eastern design and 
workmanship came in and quantity rather than quality 
was favoured, as it appears to have been about once in 
so often from time immemorial. 

Men seem to have paid more attention to apparel 
than women, for it is frequently recorded that they 
were "gorgeously apparelled," "dressed splendidly," 
"gaudy in appearance" and otherwise "brilliantly got 
up." The garments themselves were in general much 
the same in number and kind as in the reign of Francis I 
but instead of being confined to one or two colours 
"men wore red, green, blue, yellow, and white satin 
with profusions of gold braid and lace." The garments 
were slashed and lined with another related or con- 
trasting colour. They still wore doublets, slashed, but 
very tight. Sleeves were cut short to the elbow, with 
ruffs, which showed a much decorated shirt sleeve 
below and at the wrist. 

There was a profusion of buttons, gold and silver, 
ornamented with gold and gems. These were set in 
rows as ornaments, above the cuffs or pockets — in 
short, anywhere where there appeared an excuse for 
ornamentation. Even buttonholes were embroidered 
and otherwise ornamented. 

The shoes were a sort of slipper with a high heel, 
and trunk hose were still popular. Hats were of vel- 
vet and other soft material decorated with a flowing 
118 ' 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

plume. One quite distinguishing feature was the 
vogue of the lawn necktie tied in a huge bow at the 
back, and having long flowing ends of lace. 

It is notable that horses were dressed in the same 
gorgeous manner. The trappings were of finest velvet 
embroidered in colours and in gold, and reaching to 
the very ground. This custom added to the gorgeous 
spectacle of the gentlemen, particularly at the field game, 
"Tilting" which was very popular, and at the ''Tour- 
nay" where the finest appearance was made for the 
purpose of amusing and entertaining the ladies, who 
were interested spectators, furnishing the real reason for 
organizing the games. The king was an expert at 
both exercises, and it was on one of these occasions 
that he received his death wound. 

The costumes of women were less extreme and by 
comparison less showy. This may have been due some- 
what to the influential part played by Dianne de 
Poitiers, in determining the styles for women, she her- 
self adhering throughout her life to "fine stuffs, simple 
designs, and a taste for the best in art." 

The Queen, Catherine de' Medici, was always partial 
to crimson, particularly to crimson velvet. This col- 
our became so universally admired that a law was 
passed forbidding any woman not a princess to wear a 
gown wholly of crimson. No man might wear more 
than one article of dress of this colour, and attending 
ladies were limited to other colours, including what was 
known as "ordinary red." 

The bourgeoisie rebelled at the magnificence of the 
court, and the lord gave them permission to wear gold 
bands on their heads with jewelled belts and necklaces 

119 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of gold. They were apparently appeased, for a year 
later we find the lower classes clamouring to be allowed 
to wear the same, including lace and silk petticoats. 
This was refused them but they were instead given 
leave to edge their robes with lace and to participate 
otherwise in the orgy of *' being fashionable." The 
spirit of 1920 shows no change, but the road to a 
complete fulfillment of the desire is easier; hence the 
wonderful spectacle of everybody trying to do the same 
thing in all places, with all kinds of materials at the 
same time. 

The periods of Charles IX (1560 to 1574) and Henry 
III, *'the last of the Valois" (1574 to 1589), comprise 
thirty years of gradual decline in culture, art, and man- 
ners. This is not of great interest here except as it 
points to certain routes or tendencies which, culmin- 
ating at the time the Valois line became extinct, ac- 
complished the complete destruction of the Renaissance 
as an institution in France. The disorganization of 
church influence, the breakdown of royal power, the 
rise of the bourgeoisie, and the debasement of court 
life, may be cited as among the tendencies. Further 
reasons for this state of things were the decline of Italian 
influence, attributable to Spanish power, the growth 
and sprea-d of Protestantism in France, the excesses of 
the court, and the injustices heaped upon the masses to 
satisfy an increasing demand for luxury, show, and 
amusement, while the monarch neglected important 
domestic and international complications. 

It was in the reign of Charles IX that the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew (August 24, 1572) took place. 
This event throws light on the state of the people and 

no 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

shows what had been foremost in their thought for a 
decade or two previous. It should be noted here that 
Henry of Navarre (afterward Henri IV) escaped death 
at this time only by consenting to attend mass in the 
royal chapel. The religious wars, of which this inci- 
dent was the culmination, influenced costumes and 
Charles himself, weak, imaginative, lazy, and volup- 
tuous, dressed in Venetian fashion, wearing a heavily 
plumed hat. He had as his constant companion an 
Italian greyhound. This choice may indicate the 
Italian influences that affected Charles, and one is 
led to compare them with those that appealed to 
Francis I, to Henry II, and later to Henry III, for an 
indication of the state of mind of him who held the 
guiding hand in social and cultural matters. 

A peculiar fashion for women was the adoption of 
the doublet, which they buttoned right up to the 
shoulder in ''a most masculine manner." They en- 
larged skirts, wearing them "long and sweeping." 
The stomacher was peaked, the ruff about their neck 
was so large and so high, that from behind no head could 
be seen at all. The Queen, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Maximilian of Austria, probably contributed no con- 
siderable amount of taste to the costumes of the court 
at this time. 

The Turkish turban was adopted and worn without 
a veil ordinarily, but there is a record of a royal wedding 
at which it was worn even with the bridal veil "hanging 
down to the ground." Some of the gowns were split 
in front exposing embroidered petticoats of silk velvet. 
Great sleeves full at the shoulder "fixed with rosettes," 
fell, leaving part of the arms bare. 

121 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

The costumes of the gentlemen had toward the end 
of the reign become somewhat less "rich and ostenta- 
tious," but as another authority has it, were "more ele- 
gant and refined." Doublets were cut perfectly to fit 
the figure, long waisted, with skirts to the knees, tight 
sleeves with rufiles at the neck and at the wrists. 
"Everybody wore rosettes." Colours were lighter; 
white, pink, sky-blue and tawny yellow being most used. 
These silks, satins, and taffeta supplanted velvets and 
heavy brocades. Gold and silk ornaments were pre- 
ferred. Venetian hose with rosettes and a "two-part" 
hose, the lower a real hose, and the upper like skin tight 
breeches, were a distinguishing feature. These were 
very high priced, often costing from sixty to one hun- 
dred pounds a pair. Outer garments, coats, and caps of 
velvet or heavy damask are described as dark and rich 
in colour which may be accounted for when we remem- 
ber that men were greatly influenced by the Spanish 
fashions. A hat with a wide gold jewelled band and 
heavy plume was most popular and was worn with long 
beards and long hair; not a matter of consistency surely, 
but one of fashion's delusions, crystallized. 

It is worth while here to remember where fashion 
had its origin, how it was influenced by the temper of 
the public as well as how the fashion was brought out, 
and how thorough were the methods of making it uni- 
versally popular. 

Symptoms in the reign of Henry II became diseases 
in that of Charles IX and apparently incurable ones 
in the reign of Henry III, the last of the Valois kings. 
For indescribable peculiarities, fancies, and follies this 
man, of all the French kings, seems the most baflSing. 
122 




SECOND QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. CON- 
TRAST WITH THE PRECEDING ILLUSTRATION FOR THE QUALITIES 
SEEN THERE. 




SECOND QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. ELE- 
GANCE, RICHNESS, AND THE QUALITY OF DECORATION WELL EX- 
PRESSED. COMPARE WITH THE TWO PRECEDING ILLUSTRATIONS 
FOR TASTE EXPRESSION. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

A constant companion of "innumerable parrots, ma- 
caws, and cockatoes" which were arranged about his 
rooms in cages with "apes and monkeys" in other en- 
closures, not to mention dogs and the most profligate 
of his courtiers, he was ill prepared to contribute an 
absolute monarch's share to the culture and refinement 
of the social expression of his period. His weakness 
and inattention to court duties, however, left the finer 
elements in his realm greater liberty for self-expression, 
and consequently a better chance to make their influ- 
ence effective, for we read that "the costumes were in 
better taste than formerly." Catherine, the queen- 
mother, never lost her Italian tendencies and tastes, 
and the weakness of character of the son who reigned 
made her influence felt the more. She herself always 
dressed after the death of her royal spouse in a black 
velvet, close-fitting dress with "full and flowing skirt," 
her head being entirely covered with black silk and 
black lace. This sombre effect had, however, no ap- 
parent influence upon the court. 

The Due de Sully tells of a visit to the king when "he 
found him in his closet; a sword was by his side, a short 
cloak on his shoulders, a little turban on his head, and 
about his neck was hung a basket in which were two or 
three lap dogs no bigger than my fist." He usually 
wore a black velvet doublet with black fringe. His cap 
had a large diamond set in front and it was always or- 
namented with a white feather. The inattention of 
the king to details of dress, the simplicity of the cos- 
tumes of the dowager queen, the fatigued state of the 
court from the excesses of flippant dress in the pre- 
ceding reign perhaps contributed, each a little, to a saner 

123 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

condition, for we find several authorities mentioning the 
fact that "dress in general was simpler and lighter" 
and that "less desire was shown for over-ornamenta- 
tion " and for heavy materials. 

A decided change appears to have taken place and 
less stress was put upon the style of men's clothing 
while greater regard for taste was expected on the part 
of the women. 

Particular mention is made of the hair, which was 
now brushed back from the forehead and sometimes 
"curled and frizzled" in a style called "Mary Stuart." 
This queen seems to have had a very lasting influence 
on the mannerisms of at least two reigns, after her de- 
parture for England. 

All great ladies wore masks "a la Venise" in the 
streets and in public places. People carried mirrors 
in their hands and sometimes hung two or three about 
their persons, while other toilet articles were found in 
bags suspended from the waist, a fashion reproduced by 
the ladies of our time in the modern theatre, hotel 
dining room, or other public places. 

Extravagances in rings, earrings, bracelets, and head 
ornaments are mentioned so often that we sometimes 
wonder where the decrease in ornament was found, and 
what could have been the state of things before. We 
read also that the year before the assassination of the 
king it took twenty yards of the finest stuffs to make a 
dress, and that the "price was something fearful." 
There were shoes and slippers, too, in Venetian and in 
Spanish style, the former in velvet, the latter in leather. 

One other period feature should be remembered that 
is military or political in its nature. Protestant soldiers 
124 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

wore white jackets and white scarfs, while the Catholics 
always wore crimson. This shows how naturally re- 
ligious predilection reacts upon costume. 

Henry III w.as assassinated in 1589 with but a de- 
cade of the century uncompleted, a century in which a 
great institution, foreign in its inception, had been ac- 
cepted and interpreted by an alien people who had tasted 
its charms and experienced its possibilities. Now 
though the body was dead, the spirit, becoming a part of 
the ever accumulating consciousness of France, in- 
fluenced and always will influence her life and its 
expression. 

After having traced the course of the Renaissance in 
Italy, where it was indigenous, and in France, a country 
that adopted it in the most whole-hearted manner, 
it is perhaps superfluous, in this brief sketch of so 
stupendous a force, to attempt to consider it under 
any other national conditions, yet it seems impossible 
to account for ourselves as a product of it unless we at 
least follow its introduction into England, and suggest 
briefly the lines of its development there. 

It was no uncommon thing in the fifteenth century 
to hear of England as *'that barbarous country," or of 
the English as ''the barbarians of England," when the 
people were seen through Italian, Spanish, or French 
eyes. The Anglo-Saxon's sturdiness, practicality, do- 
mestic traditions, and economic development, by com- 
parison with the culture, polite refinements, and luxur- 
ious amusements of the other countries no doubt gave 
some justification to this estimate; yet these very qual- 
ities were the bed-rock of Anglo-Saxon civilization and 
therefore of the manner in which the Renaissance was 

125 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

by them to be expressed. England's material body 
was practically unimpaired by experiment or excess. 
She was committed by centuries to thinking in terms of 
isolated self-sufficiency, where the leading motive of 
thought and action was self-preservation in its broadest 
sense, instead of the cultured refinements of a sensuous 
existence, or of a carefully trained intellectual develop- 
ment. Their domestic ideals were correspondingly 
simple and of a somewhat more mediaeval or primitive 
Intent, while their contact with other civilizations was 
(by virtue of their geographic position) very slight as 
compared with the intercourse carried on at the same 
time between the other countries mentioned. 

All this left England with a well-formed, healthy 
body, a clean and rugged, though rather primitive 
intellect, an undeveloped aesthetic sense, and a spirit- 
ual sense, not wholly associated with or committed to 
particular symbols, and less associated with the humani- 
ties. This was quite a different consciousness, to 
which the Renaissance was to be introduced, from any 
other we have seen, and perhaps this may be the best 
place to stop an instant to see how the new idea of cul- 
ture (both intellectual and emotional) failed to make 
its appeal in the same way, or to produce results in the 
same field as it did in France. The first real result of 
this institution in England was a literary one instead 
of an architectural or decorative one. This great liter- 
ary period known as the Revival of Letters, or the Eliza- 
bethan Era, manifests at every step of its evolution the 
development of humanism as English mind sensed its 
meaning, and its possibilities. Tracing the Renais- 
sance in this field has no place here, but the reader who 
126 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

investigates the subject will find one of the most fascin- 
ating and the most illuminating pages in the psychology 
of life and in the expression of the ideal of humanism. 

We get in the reign of Richard III (1483 to 1485) the 
first faint hint that an outside glory was to come in the 
costumes of the sixteenth century. "Figured materi- 
als from Italy" in rare instances found their way into 
England. The pineapple pattern appeared, as did 
other strange motifs from the same source. The men 
were still clean shaven and wore their hair long. They 
had developed open breasted tunics with pleated skirts, 
while hats of black velvet with stiff brims were the 
vogue, as were also very blunt shoes. The low neck 
of the tunic showed a sort of waistcoat of some fine 
material, generally of a brilliant colour. Garments of 
the great barons were trimmed with black velvet, but 
peasants wore a loose tunic opened and laced in front 
with a belt and a hood of coarse cloth. 

Women wore full skirts, a high waist with tight 
sleeves and ruffs of black velvet, and a long belt some- 
times reaching to the ground. The head-dress which 
had for centuries been so important, being universally 
worn with so many queer inventions, had been ex- 
ploited in the shape of the wimple, the horns, stiff tur- 
bans, box-like shapes of gold, the hennin, and now a 
stiff bonnet which stuck out at the back stretched on 
stiff wires. Under all this the hair had always been 
securely hidden, but after the adoption of the triangular 
bonnet of the next period, hair as the "crowning 
glory of woman" came into its own. This may be con- 
sidered the last definite period of the fifteenth century, 
for the period of Henry VII showed but the development 

127 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of these ideas, their culmination and the birth of the 
new ideas of the next century. 

Henry VII came to the throne in 1485, two years after 
Charles VIII of France, so that his reign, to 1509, cov- 
ered practically the same period as that of Charles VIII 
and Louis XII of France. It was Mary, daughter of 
Henry VII and third wife of Louis XII, who by her 
marriage opened in a limited way an avenue of relation- 
ship with the French court life, which no doubt influ- 
enced in some degree the English styles. It was in 
this reign that Arthur Tudor, brother of Henry VIII, 
married Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess who 
later became the wife of Henry VIII and Queen of 
England. This king was contemporary with, and an 
associate of Francis I. One incident, that known as 
"The Field of the Cloth of Gold," will in some measure 
recall this association. 

This connection and the later marriage of Mary 
Stuart with Francis II formed important means for the 
introduction of such social ideas and practices as were 
adopted, or modified and absorbed, by the English 
court during the sixteenth century, although these in- 
fluences never made much of a general showing until 
the days of Charles I, whose court went over to French 
social manners and customs as fast and as fully as his 
native material would permit. 

Of the great houses built in the reign of Henry VIII 
there need be no enumeration here, we are all too fa- 
miliar with them and their practical, clean, picturesque- 
ness, to make that necessary. Psychologically it is 
interesting to see them in comparison as to their classic 
or aesthetic quality with those of France under Francis 
128 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

I. No one would question the charm of these old 
English houses for a moment, but their fascination is 
rather one of uniqueness, romance, and picturesque- 
ness, than of intellectual classic proportions, or of emo- 
tional aesthetic values. England's notions regarding 
domestic conveniences, picturesque ceremonial, out- 
of-door life, and home traditions, were altogether too 
ingrained to be greatly affected by the introduction of a 
new idea in domestic forms of life. 

We are reminded, however, of our debt of gratitude 
to England, that while Louis XII and even his succes- 
sor saw to it that coupled with each great chateau 
and palace was a private chapel, of such proportion 
and design that it became a beautiful as well as an 
essential part of the family life, the great homes of 
England were working out for us at the same time, the 
essentials of culinary social expression in so perfect a 
manner as to require in many instances a whole separate 
adjacent building for the kitchens, while the problems 
of pantries and cupboards were being solved with suf- 
ficient skill to become a permanent contribution. 

Of the furnishings of homes at the beginning of the 
reign of Henry VII Hallam says: "But if the domestic 
buildings of the fifteenth century would not seem very 
spacious or convenient at present, far less would this 
luxurious generation be content with their internal 
accommodations. A gentleman's house containing 
three or four beds was extraordinarily well provided; 
few probably had more than two. The walls were 
commonly bare, without wainscot or even plaster; ex- 
cept that some great houses were furnished with hang- 
ings. It is unnecessary to add that neither libraries of 

129 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

books nor pictures could have found a place among fur- 
niture. Silver plate was very rare, and hardly used for 
the table. A few inventories of furniture that still 
remain exhibit a miserable deficiency. And this was 
incomparably greater in private gentlemen's houses 
than among citizens, and especially foreign to Contar- 
ini, a rich Venetian trader, at his house in St. Botolph's 
Lane, A.D. 1481. There appear to have been no less 
than ten beds, and glass windows are especially noticed 
as moveable furniture. No mention, however, is made 
of chairs or looking-glasses. If we compare this ac- 
count however trifling in our estimation, with a similar 
inventory of furniture in Skipton Castle, the great 
honour of the earls of Cumberland, and among the 
most splendid mansions of the north, not at the same 
period, for I have not found any inventory of a noble- 
man's furniture so ancient, but in 1572, after almost a 
century of continual improvement, we shall be aston- 
ished at the inferior provision of the baronial residence. 
There were not more than seven or eight beds in this 
great castle, nor had any of the chambers either chairs, 
glasses, or carpets." 

These conditions continued practically unchanged until 
some time after the accession of Henry VIII in 1509. 

Of the details of costumes during the period from 1485 
to 1509 we are told not a little. It seems that elegance 
and luxury were so much in evidence in the latter half of 
the fourteenth century that very strict sumptuary 
laws were passed, but in the first three quarters of the 
fifteenth century domestic and foreign affairs, the 
Wars of the Roses, and other causes prevented extrav- 
agance and display in clothing. 
130 




FIRST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. CONTRAST 
WITH THE PRECEDING ILLUSTRATION FOR THE QUALITIES DISCUSSED. 
THE CONCLUSIONS ARE ILLUMINATING. 




MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CfENTURY. FLORENTINE. THE COM- 
PELLING CHARM OF GOOD BREEDING AND CULTURE IS SEEN NOT 
ONLY IN THE GREAT LADY HERSELF BUT IN HER COSTUME, WHICH 
TRULY EXPRESSES HER. 




LAST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. EXCEPT 
FOR MINOR DETAILS THIS MIGHT EASILY BE TAKEN FOR A NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY COSTUME INSTEAD OF BELONGING TO MARIE DE 
MEDICI. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

History relates that the policy of Henry VII was to 
collect sufl&cient treasure to defend himself without 
borrowing, but that he was at heart a dreamer, lover 
of books and of art, and that through his personal taste 
he made possible the "Revival of Letters" and the 
growth of culture under Henry VIII. We might also 
add in this connection that he instituted that imple- 
ment of tyranny called "The Court of the Star Cham- 
ber," no doubt the greatest single assistance to Henry 
VIII in establishing an absolute monarchy, which made 
possible the birth and crystallization of an important 
art period during his reign. 

In sensing the Renaissance flavour in English life of 
the sixteenth century it is well perhaps to compare 
for a moment the spirit of the "Revival of Letters" here, 
in its more moral, more religious, more practical con- 
tribution to society and politics, with that of Italy or 
France, founded as it was in those countries on literary 
classics, platonic love, religious scepticism, and sense 
enjoyment. A real investigation in this field, however, 
would not be possible here. One can only point out 
the qualities apparently dominating in each mani- 
festation, and consider those qualities in estimating 
the general character of the Renaissance in England. 

In making this comparison the letters written by 
Francesco Chiericati to Isabella d'Este are a material 
aid. As papal nuncio this prelate was sent by Pope 
Leo on many important occasions to foreign courts. 
Being a loyal adherent of the Duchess he kept her con- 
stantly informed of his experiences and his impressions 
of the lives and doings of the people whom he visited. 
Writing to her from the court of Henry VIII in 1516 he 

131 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

informs her that he could not contain his amazement at 
the "high degree of civiUzation and culture which he 
found in this barbarous land." Erasmus of Rotterdam 
declared that "the English court contained more per- 
sonages of real knowledge and ability than any univer- 
sity in Europe." Let us remember that this does not 
establish the fact that these cultured people were all of 
English birth, but it is illuminating as testifying to the 
virility of the English mind in its relation to books and 
to general culture, judged not only by the stern stand- 
ards of Erasmus but subject also to the riper sensuous 
measurement of the sophisticated Chiericati, as ap- 
pears from the following description, in which some of 
his comments are quoted : 

"In June 1517, Count Jacques de Luxembourg, ac- 
companied by several Spanish courtiers and prelates, 
arrived in London on an embassy from Charles V, to 
invite Henry to join in a new league with him and the 
Emperor. The nuncio was present at the magnificent 
reception given to these envoys by the King, who wore 
a sumptuous robe of cloth of gold, in the Hungarian 
style, while his nobles were all clad in gold brocade, 
and wore the finest chains and collars which Chieri- 
cati had ever seen. A week of festivities followed; 
banquets were given by the Cardinal and Lord Mayor, 
and one day the King invited the ambassadors and the 
nuncio to dine privately with him in the Queen's rooms. 
*This, I am told, is a very unusual thing,' remarks the 
writer. *The King himself sang and played all kinds 
of different instruments with rare talent, and then 
danced, and made the Count dance, and gave him a 
fine horse with rich trappings, and a vest of gold brocade 
132 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

trimmed with sables, wroth 700 ducats. On St. 
Peter's Day,' continues Chiericati, 'all the ambassa- 
dors of the league went to court, and the King heard 
mass in the Capella Grande below, and wore his royal 
robes of brocade and ermine, and a train resplendent 
with jewels, carried by pages.' But the finest sight of 
all was the tournament held on the Feast of the Trans- 
lation of St. Thomas at Canterbury, in a piazza three 
times as large as that of S. Pietro of Mantua, surrounded 
by walls, with tiers of seats occupied by thousands of 
spectators, with two great pavillions of cloth of gold on 
either side. The King appeared on horseback in a 
white damask surcoat, embroidered with his device 
of roses in rubies and diamonds, with a helmet on his 
head, and a richly jewelled breastplate valued at 300,000 
ducats. He was followed by forty knights on white 
horses, with bridles and harness of pure silver, worked 
in niello with the King's and Queen's initials and devices, 
upon which all the goldsmiths in the city had been em- 
ployed for the last four months. 'The Duke of Sur- 
folk (Suforche in the nuncio's spelling) rode out at the 
head of a similar troop from the opposite pavillion, 
and when he met the King in single fight, we seemed 
to see Hector and Achilles. After this encounter the 
King took off his armour and appeared in blue velvet, 
embroidered with gold bells, attended by twenty-four 
pages in the same livery, and rode before the Queen on 
a very tall white horse, prancing and leaping as it went, 
and when he had tired out one horse, he went back to 
his tent and mounted another.' 

"The banquet which followed in the Palace of White- 
hall was on a magnificent scale; the gold and silver plate 

133 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

piled on the sideboard was worth a king's ransom, and 
every variety of meat, poultry, game, and fish was 
served at table. All the dishes were borne before the 
King by figures of elephants, panthers, tigers, and 
other animals, admirably designed; but the finest things 
in Chiericati's eyes were the jellies made in the shape of 
castles, towers, churches, and animals of every variety, 
'as beautiful and closely copied as possible.' 'To sum 
up,' he adds, 'most illustrious Madama, here in Eng- 
land we find all the wealth and delights in the world. 
Those who call the English barbarians are themselves 
barbarians! Here we see magnificent costumes, rare 
virtues, and the finest courtesy. And, best of all, 
here we have this invincible King, who is endowed with 
so many excellent virtues that he seems to me to sur- 
pass all others who wear a crown in these times. Blessed 
and happy is the country which is ruled by so worthy 
and excellent a prince! I would rather five under his 
mild and gentle sway than enjoy the greatest freedom 
under any other form of government!'" 

Writing again to Isabella, Chiericati describes a visit 
to Ireland and expresses his astonishment at finding 
things so simple, so cheap, and so different from Eng- 
land, which was very close by. Of the people there he 
tells her that they live on oat cake and drink milk and 
water, that the men are closely shaven except the chin, 
that they wear cloth shirts dipped in saffron, shoes with- 
out stockings, and a gray cloak with a felt hat. The 
women, according to his account, are white and beauti- 
ful but very dirty. They wear the same saffron col- 
oured shirts with white caps on their heads. He calls 
them very religious, though they do not hold it wrong 
134 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

to steal. He also relates that in the northern part they 
go naked and live in caverns eating raw meat. 

By the second quarter of the sixteenth century the 
monarchy was absolute. Prepossessing in appearance, 
merry and debonair, Henry VIII had won the favour 
of those foreign diplomats and artists who came to 
the English court. Genial, commanding, and forward 
looking in matters of state, his own people rallied around 
his ideals, glad of something to take the place of the 
half stagnant medisevalism which had characterized 
the last century. The §tory of his love and enthusiasm 
for the new culture, his patronage of its manifestations 
as it came to him inspired by the court of Isabella at 
Mantua, and of his complete surrender to the appetites 
and senses, furnishes one of the most remarkable ex- 
amples of living the whole possibilities of the Renais- 
sance in less than half a century. 

While a good deal of concrete material is available 
concerning the fashions that prevailed, it lacks inter- 
est, as everything is likely to that relates to what is 
copied rather than evolved. The people of the country 
were past masters even then at seizing an accomplished 
result and making it practical, without ever having 
experienced the process of its creation. 

The court very early grasped the idea that a new 
world had been opened up by the discoveries of Colum- 
bus and it soon had its Cabots looking into the matter. 
Printing and other inventions were making informa- 
tion more accessible and bringing nations into closer 
touch. Customs and manners unheard of in the last 
century became common to all, as did also fashions 
and the possibilities for personal exploitation which 

135 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

they afforded. '* Venetian modes," ''Italian fashions, 
a la Dianne de Poitiers," and "things in Spanish taste," 
richest velvets and gorgeous silks from Italy, finest 
linens from France and Flanders, jewels and gems from 
the East, and various other materials as well as cus- 
toms were taken on apparently without a question of 
their source or meaning, owing to a newly quickened 
national consciousness. The great difference between 
its ways and those of France seemed to be that in Eng- 
land what resulted from the Renaissance was accepted 
and adopted with keen relish by the aristocracy, while 
in France ideas were absorbed and then incorporated 
into the life of the people producing results similar 
in some ways to those of Italy or Spain whence the ideas 
were taken, though in other cases an adaptation was 
made which was, in general feeling, quite different. As 
this makes the grand costumes of this period less inter- 
esting to discuss in detail, the larger part of our sym- 
pathy is due to England's interesting "Revival of Let- 
ters," its open response to the advent of culture, its 
rapidly maturing development of culinary art, and its 
evident delight in it all, leaving the inventions of art 
and fashion to those nations to whom nature has given 
the necessary equipment. A lady of rank writes of the 
costumes of Henry VIII at the time of his coronation 
as follows: "On the day of his coronation Henry's dress 
was splendid in the extreme; his coat was literally 
embossed with gold; the placardo covered with 
every kind of precious stone; the bandrech on his neck 
with balesses, and the mantle of crimson velvet was 
lined with ermine. His queen wore a long gown of em- 
broidered white satin, and her hair, like that of Queen 
136 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

Anne, hung down her back." This ''pride of hair" 
as it was called, or the new fashion of exposing the hair, 
and ''unduly and extravagantly plaiting, bowing, comb- 
ing, and bejewelling it," grew in favour from this date. 
A new material element was in this way liberated for 
purposes of decoration and for increasing personal at- 
traction. 

At the meeting of Francis I and Henry VIII on the 
Field of the Cloth of Gold the latter is described as 
"habited" in a garment composed of cloth of gold over a 
jacket of rose-coloured velvet. "His collar was com- 
posed of rubies and pearls set in alternate rows, and on 
his breast hung a rich jewel of St. George suspended by 
a riband. His boots were of yellow leather and his hat 
of black velvet with a white feather turning over the 
brim, and beneath it a broad band of rubies, emeralds, 
and diamonds mixed with pearls. His pages were 
splendidly attired in crimson." A rose, a dragon, and 
a greyhound were embroidered on the back of each 
page. The sleeves of their tunics were slashed and 
stuffed with fine white cambric, and they wore white 
shoes and stockings. It seems clear that the popularity 
or the autocratic power, or both, of the king, early 
found a response, judging by the manner in which men 
of the aristocracy and even the clergy broke the tradi- 
tions of earlier days and took to the -new fashions as 
fast and as thoroughly as circumstances would permit. 
Cardinal Wolsey setting them a most remarkable ex- 
ample. A certain churchman insists that until Cardinal 
Wolsey set the fashion of constantly wearing silks 
and embroideries upon his person the clergy were 
"sober minded as to their clothes," and another affirms 

137 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

that the *' flamboyant luxury of the king was soon cop- 
ied by every gentleman of the realm who hoped to find 
favour in his sight." Another side-light on how a fash- 
ion starts, how it becomes a vogue, and through what 
impulses a style finally becomes an accomplished fact, 
is presented in the ''Memoirs of the Court of Henry 
the Eighth." We read: "The dress of females of rank 
was restricted by limitations of a nature somewhat simi- 
lar to those which restricted the absurdities of male 
attire, but was less extravagant. The gown, com- 
posed of silk or velvet, was shortened or lengthened 
according to the rank of the wearer. The countess 
was obliged by the rules of etiquette to have a train 
before and behind, which she hung upon her arm, or 
fastened in her girdle; the baroness, and all under her 
degree, were prohibited from assuming that badge of 
distinction. The matrons were distinguished from un- 
married women by the different mode of their head- 
attire; the hood of the former had recently been super- 
seded by a coif, or close bonnet, of which the pictures by 
Holbein give a representation; while the youthful and 
the single, with characteristic simplicity, wore the hair 
braided with knots of riband. 

''Embroidered petticoats and gowns were now much 
worn by the female sex. The latter were frequently 
made open in front, so as to show the satin kirtle be- 
neath; an embroidered apron, flowered in gold and 
coloured silks, was also greatly admired. The bodice, 
or, as it was formerly called, the surcoat, was generally 
of a different colour from the rest of the dress, and had 
a richly ornamented stomacher. 'Gowns of blew vel- 
vet, cut and lined with cloth of gold, made after the 
138 




LAST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
FRENCH. THE TENACITY OF TRADITION IN CUT IS 
OFFSET HERE BY SUCH MODERN DETAILS AS THE CAP, 
THE RUCHE, AND THE CHAIN. 




LAST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. CONSIDER 
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE HEAD-DRESS AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 
RUFF WHICH DISTINGUISHED THE COSTUME OF THE LAST QUARTER 
OF THE CENTURY THROUGHOUT CIVILIZED EUROPE. 













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>*'"■■'■ 


"'Mw^'^ 


f 








IS 








m 4 




f ■> 


up: 


mm^ 


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t 



THIRD QUARTER OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. THE 
MATERIAL, CUT, ORNAMENT, AND STYLE OF THE HAIR ARE PAR- 
TICULARLY CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS EPOCH IN FLORENCE. 




THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. 
THE ABNORMAL INTERPRETATION OF THIS PERIOD BY ELIZABETH 
OF ENGLAND AND HER COURT IS TOO FAMILIAR TO REQUIRE MEN- 
TION. THIS ILLUSTRATION IS AMONG THE MILDEST OF ITS KIND. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

fashion of Savoy/ are named by a writer of the day, who 
also describes the dress worn by Anne of Cleves, which 
consisted of 'a ryche gown of cloth of gold, raised, 
made round, without any trayne, after the Dutch 
fashion.'" 

Among many kinds of head-dresses used, were a vel- 
vet cap adorned with jewels, with a long flowing veil, 
and a coif or French hood; three-cornered caps, too, 
were worn, as were also frontlets. 

The autocratic king condemned all men to wear short 
hair, but gave them permission to make their beards 
as fierce as they chose, and to curl their moustaches, 
in which, it is written, they took great solace. 

Sumptuary laws were passed with the usual results, 
limiting colours, designs, and styles, to certain class dis- 
tinctions. Coats had skirts, waistcoats were invented, 
and we find a record of many ''trimmed shirts wrought 
with black and white silk, and shirtbands of silver, 
with rufiles to the same." Hall, who was very particu- 
lar in describing dress, gives this account of that of 
Henry VIII the first year after he ascended the throne : 

"A suit of short garments, little beneathe the pointes, 
of blew velvet and crymosyne, with long sleeves, all 
cut and lyned with cloth of gold, and the utter parts of 
the garments powdered with castles and sheafes of ar- 
rowes, of fyne dockett golde; the upper part of the 
hosen of like sewte and facion; the nether parts of scar- 
let, powdered with tymbrelles of fyne gold. On his head 
was a bonnet of damaske silver, flatte woven in the stoll, 
and thereupon wrought with gold, and ryche feathers 
in it." Another day. Hall says the king was habited 
**in a frocke, all embroidered over with flatted gold of 

139 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

damaske, with small lace mixed between of the same 
gold, and other laces of the same going traverse- wise, 
that the ground little appeared; and about this gar- 
ment was a rich guard, or border, very curiously em- 
broidered; the sleeves and the breast were cut and 
lined with cloth of gold, and tied together with great 
buttons of diamonds, rubies, and orient pearles." 

Gowns are described as of all shapes, long and short 
ones, loose and tight ones, while Hall also mentions 
a garment called a * * chammer . ' ' Capes of various kinds 
with buttons and points, trunk sleeves with red cloth of 
gold, French sleeves of green velvet embroidered in 
flowers of damask gold with knops of Venice gold, and 
buttons of all kinds in which were set pearls and rubies 
are frequently enumerated. Velvet caps with plumes 
and feathers, flat caps and broad brimmed hats were 
brought from France and first appeared among the 
fashionable in this reign. 

Many similar reports of extravagant materials, 
ostentatious gems, and intimate styles both French and 
Venetian, are found in all the records of this epoch. 

By 1550, ''extravagant show was the universal aim," 
writes a historian of fashion in England. In the last 
sermon preached by Latimer before the young king 
Edward VI he launched a tirade against the capitula- 
tion of the entire nation to fashion, particularly French 
fashion, in these words: ''They must wear French 
hoods, and I cannot tell you, I, what to call it. And, 
when they make them ready, and come to the covering 
of the heade, they will call and say, ' Give me my French 
hood, give me my bonnet, and my cap,' and so forth. 
But here is a vengeance devil; we must have our power 
140 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

[a name he gave to the bonnet] from Turkey of velvet. 
Far fette, dear bought, and, when it cometh, it is a 
false signe. I had rather have a true English signe than 
a signe from Turkey; it is a false signe when it cover- 
eth not their heads, as it should do. For if they would 
keep it under the power, as they ought to do there 
should not be any such tussocks nor tufts be seen as 
there be, nor such laying out of the hair, nor braiding 
to have it open." 

Gentlemen wore great ruffs, velvet caps with gold 
bands and plumes, and often great jewels and ribands 
on the sides, doublets of satin, white and gold with 
purple, coats of cloth of silver or gold and trimmed with 
ermine. A clasp of fine jewels made fast the mantle, 
and jewels were hung about the neck. It is easy to see 
how this description tallies with the fashions in France 
at this time, and comical to picture the appearance of 
these two types of gentlemen (recalling their long 
beards) as they must have looked in such attire. 

The ladies followed either the lamented "French 
styles" or those more individual ones of "Queen Jane," 
who in her simple and modest costumes made a decided 
appeal to the limited number of high-born ladies to 
whom modesty and humility seemed possible assets. 

During the reign of Mary, short as it was — but five 
years — a complete change in fashion took place. Sel- 
dom has so short a period shown sa great a change and 
so quick an acceptance of an autocratic mandate. With 
love of power, a passion for display, and a will to be 
obeyed, in perfect keeping with the same qualities in 
her father, Henry VIII; possessed also pride of birth, 
arrogance of manner, with reverence for forms, in- 

141 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

herited from her mother Katherlne of Aragon, and an 
'*ugly visage" of her own, this half Spanish queen 
swayed first the court and then the great ladies of the 
realm to her chosen fashions. These consisted almost 
entirely of imitations of the Spanish. Perhaps her 
Spanish inheritance or a desire to compliment her 
Spanish husband, Philip, and her sympathy with the 
Inquisition and its Spanish influences, may partially 
account for this phenomenon, at least it is an inter- 
esting speculation. So formal, sumptuous, pompous, 
and ungainly were all the costumes of this period that 
details are too heavy for a long recital. 

From the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, one year 
before the death of Henry II of France, until 1603, an 
Interval covering the French periods of Francis II, 
Charles IX, Henry HI and most of that of Henry IV, 
was notable as bringing in the first English harvest of 
the Renaissance in the field of art. How completely 
the classic significance of this institution failed to make 
its appeal is shown in the architecture, furniture, cos- 
tumes, and decorative arts as they appeared during 
this remarkable reign. How the ideas embodied in 
the creed of the ancients found other paths of filtration 
into the consciousness of England and associated them- 
selves with what was already there, is shown in unmis- 
takable terms in the literature of the period. 

On the other side of this dual institution stands the 
demand of the body for appetite satisfaction and for a 
personal display capable of satisfying in its grandeur 
and sumptuousness the distorted or undeveloped 
esthetic sense, while materialism stealthily and steadily 
displaces spiritual vision. In each of these suggested 
142 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

lines we may trace clearly the progress in England, but 
how unlike are the manifestations to those of France 
during the same period. A close comparison is not 
altogether to the disadvantage of England. Even the 
fully developed kitchen, the dinner of a whole roast 
ox, or the person of the queen decorated to rival a 
Christmas tree are, if abnormal, certainly not decadent 
or disgustingly blase. 

Of this great period we will not go farther into de- 
tails than is necessary to see how fashion, "motley 
goddess," was changeable still, finding as ready subjects 
here as ever, the readiest of them being the vain and 
effeminate, though brusque and masculine, queen. 
She is said to have left more than three thousand habits 
in her wardrobe when she died, and prominent among 
the records of the gifts presented her by her friends 
and admirers are gowns, petticoats, kirtles, doublets, 
and mantles, some embroidered with jewels, and others 
made of velvet and damask. There were also. lace 
handkerchiefs, fine linen garments, rich jewels, and 
many other small articles of personal adornment. 

A description is given of her dress by Paul Hentzer, 
who had journeyed to England and was personally 
received by her: 

"The queen had two great pearls in her ears with 
very big drops. She wore red false hair and a small 
crown. Her neck was uncovered and she had a huge 
necklace of exceeding fine jewels. Her gown was white 
silk all bordered with white pearls as big as beans. She 
wore a mantle of blush silk shot with silver threads and 
a very long train. Instead of wearing a chain about 
her neck she had an oblong collar of gold and jewels." 

143 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

We find that during this reign an outside dress of 
velvet embroidered with ermine and precious stones 
was much worn, under which was a satin kirtle with a 
vest. This garment is described by one, Stubbs, in 
this way: "The women," he says, ''have doublets and 
jerkins, as the men have, buttoned up to the chin, and 
made with welts, wings, and pinions on the shoulder- 
points, as man's apparel in all respects; and although 
this be a kind of attire proper only to a man, yet they 
blush not to wear it." 

Mary Margaret Egerton makes a royal censor des- 
cribe the gowns of the time as follows: "And then 
their gownes be no less famous than the rest; for some be 
of silk, some of velvet, some of grograin, some of 
taffeta, some of scarlet, and some of fine cloth, of ten, 
twenty, or forty shillings the yard; but if the whole 
garment be not of silk or velvet, then the same must be 
layed over with lace two or three fingers broad, all over 
the gowne; or, if the lace be not fine enough for them, 
they must be decorated with broad gardes of velvet, 
edged with costly lace. The fashions, too, are changing 
as the moon; for some be of the new fashion, and some 
of the olde; some with sleeves hanging down to the 
skirts, trailing to the ground, and cast over their 
shoulders like cow-tails; some have sleeves much shorter 
cut up the arm, drawn out with sundry colours, and 
pointed with silk ribands, and very gallantly tied with 
love-knotts, for so they call them." 

She further says: "These robes frequently had deep 
capes of velvet or satin, 'fringed about very bravely,' 
or crested down the back 'with more knacks' than can 
be described. But what is more vain," she adds, "of 
144 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

whatever the petticoat be, yet must they have kirtles, 
for so they call them of silk, velvet, grograin, taffeta, sat- 
in, or scarlet, bordered with gardes, lace, fringe, and I 
cannot tell what. Then they must have their silk 
scarfs, cast about their faces, and fluttering in the 
wind, with great lappels, at every end, either of gold, or 
silver, or silk, which they say they wear to keep them 
from sun-burning." Again: *' Their fingers must be 
decked with gold, silver, or precious stones; their 
wrists with bracelets and amulets of gold and costly 
jewels; their hands covered with sweet-washed gloves, 
embroidered with gold and silver; and they must have 
looking-glaisses carried with them wheresoever they go 
. . . and they are not ashamed to make holes in 
their ears, whereat they hang rings and other jewels of 
gold and precious stones." 

With all these there was one ''abomination" which 
the stolid Briton could never accept even in the days of 
Henry VIII, and this was the fashion of wearing sleeves 
which, exposing the arm to open view, "astonished and 
shocked the fair dames" so that naked arms "were 
looked upon with horror and disgust." Holinshed's 
"Chronicle" remarks that "nothing is more constant 
in England than inconstancy of attire. Oh, how much 
cost is bestowed nowadays upon our bodies, and how 
little upon our souls. How many suits of apparel hath 
the one, and how little furniture h^th the other. How 
long a time is asked in decking up the first, and how 
little space left wherein to feed the latter." 

It was about this time that the English began to take 
to the perfume habit, and we read that as they could not 
be supplied with Venetian products, they began to 

145 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

make costly washes for themselves. Perfumed Vene- 
tian fans and gloves came into fashion. It is also 
recorded that "the dress of the citizen, indeed, was, if 
less elegant, equally showy, and sometimes fully as 
expensive as that of the man of fashion." 

And even here the majesty of the law endeavoured, 
through the demands of the queen, to step in and 
regulate, if not destroy, the never satiated desire for 
something new and for something grotesque. It seems 
indeed strange that Elizabeth, devoted to fashion as she 
was, should not have permitted her subjects to dress 
somewhat as they chose, but she caused to be enacted 
more laws against over-dressing than any other English 
sovereign. She decreed that "no great ruff should be 
worn, nor any white colour, in doublets or hosen, nor 
any facing of velvet in gowns, but by such as were of the 
bench. That no gentlemen should walk in the streets 
in their cloaks, but in gowns. That no hat, or curled, or 
long hair, be worn, nor any gowns but such as be of a 
sad colour." She attempted to regulate the length and 
shape of beards, and we find laws against the wearing of 
"cut or pansied hose, or bryches, and of pansied 
doublets," as well as against the use of light colours, 
**of velvet caps, of scarfs, and of wings to the gowns, 
white jerkins, buskins, or velvet shoes, double ruffs to 
the skirts, feathers and ribbons in the caps." A law 
passed in 1571 also compelled those not of noble 
origin and more than six years of age, to wear on the 
Sabbaths and on holy days caps of wool of English 
make. Evidently this was aimed at the practical 
encouragement of home industries. The law was in 
force for twenty-six years. 
146 




LAST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. CONSIDER 
THE NAIVE CHARM OF THE SAME STYLES WHEN INTERPRETED 
BY MARIE STUART AFTER FRENCH ASSOCIATIONS. 




NEAR THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. THE 
CHILD WAS BUT THE MINIATURE OF THE ADULT IN MATTERS OF 
DRESS. 




FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. 
THE GRADUAL TRIUMPH OF MATERIAL DISPLAY OVER 
THE CLASSIC AND ESTHETIC IN DRESS. 



THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

It certainly is a mistake to believe that the Renais- 
sance, the first great modern institution of civilization, 
found no place in England. It did, and its expression 
there was as decided and as individual as in France, but 
it was entirely different, and in this fact lies its interest. 
From the Platonic point of view, particularly of the social 
arts, the effect of its ideals was negligible. Many of the 
ideas and projects that Italy conceived, and France 
absorbed, did not even lodge in English consciousness, 
and such as did, found an expression in a very different 
manner and in quite different fields. What England 
did was to accept and use the ready-made products of 
the Renaissance, both of Italy and France, without 
ever experiencing the aesthetic emotions enjoyed by the 
creators of these things, or ever enjoying the satisfac- 
tion that always comes from creating to satisfy the 
demand of an unexpressed wish. The English bought 
things and hung them in their houses and on their 
persons, sometimes no doubt with some sense of ap- 
preciation, but always with the newly liberated desire to 
be modern and fashionable and, no doubt, with the too 
well known determination to be '*up in art," and 
incidentally to make no mistake in advertising the fact 
to the world at large. We, in these days, should be 
able to understand and appreciate the situation per- 
fectly. 

The absolute autocracy of Henry VIII with the 
ultimate union of church and state; the confiscation of 
church property, and the consequent enrichment of the 
aristocracy; rapidly developing commerce, and the 
power of the court to dictate social forms, combined to 
effect one of the most mixed and picturesque social 

147 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

groups that Europe has ever seen. This crystallized 
church-state-social life had to be expressed, and so 
far as England was concerned she was able to furnish 
the ensemble of personages possessed of fine physical 
bodies with fully developed appetites, who were some- 
what immature intellectually, yet endowed with prac- 
tical common sense, a dormant aesthetic instinct and an 
innate reverence for their own established domestic 
forms. 

England, France, and Spain having either worked out, 
or being in process of working out, each in detail, its 
own idea of the new humanism, and having created 
objects with which to express its conceptions, Eng- 
land apparently accepted gladly "Venetian fashions," 
"Spanish styles," "French modes" and "Turkish tur- 
bans," all at the same time, and thus was relieved not 
only of originating fashions, but of creating objects or 
materials with which to express fashion's mandates. 

The costumes of the sixteenth century in England, or 
In other words those of the Renaissance, lacked noth- 
ing of richness, abundance, extravagance, or curiosity. 
What they did lack was aesthetic quality, the creator's 
personality sometimes revealing an apalling lack of 
taste both in selection and use. Granting all this we 
do not forget the other various avenues through which 
the new humanism was ineffaceably expressed, and 
thereby impressed on modern consciousness. 



148 



CHAPTER FOUR 

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IN FRANCE, 
ITALY, AND ENGLAND 



IT IS strictly fashionable now in after dinner speeches 
and anywhere else among the pseudo-intellectuals to 
bemoan the materialism of this age and to charge that 
such a state of things never before existed. They have 
evidently forgotten the seventeenth century, as well as 
the comforting old adage that "history repeats itself," 
the latter bringing us the refreshing assurance that 
even now a change is due, and that the pendulum al- 
ways has swung from one extreme of the arc to the 
other, therefore it is likely that it always will. Ob- 
viously, however, the spirit of the seventeenth century 
was born again amidst new surroundings, with new 
demands, and new possibilities for making itself 
obnoxious both to the spiritual and to the aesthetic 
sense, while the ideas it fostered had to run their course 
and exhaust themselves, or in other words to prove 
their worthlessness in complete expression. 

The social arts of the seventeenth century, like the 
political and social lives which they expressed, were the 
results mainly of standards of thought and life set by 
the courts of the great European powers subsequent to 
the advent of the Renaissance, and each of these was 
influenced in a particular way by three very important 

149 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

facts. Spiritual restraint and the habit of declaiming 
constantly against the triumph of material over mind, 
which was the basic principle of the whole mediseval 
structure, had been overcome, and had vanished into 
the shades of the subconscious mind. The idea of the 
right of material to live at peace with the spirit, for the 
purpose of satisfying the aesthetic sense, and finally to 
appease the appetites through the senses, had been 
tried by the leading powers with varying degrees of in- 
telligence and success until finally tired and satiated 
Christendom awoke as if by agreement to the belief that 
it must have more experience in new fields, or be 
gradually bored into decadence and extinction. The 
condition was oppressive. 

The vast, recently discovered and partially explored, 
new world offered possibilities for new experiences, 
both among the powers themselves and in the new 
world. These opportunities developed commercial 
rivalry, the effect of which contributed largely to make 
this probably the most completely materialistic century 
since the days of ancient Rome, being approached only 
in later times by the one in which we find ourselves to- 
day. Spiritual aspiration seemed impotent, taste was 
dead, the intellect was dazed and the senses perverted. 

It was about the beginning of the seventeenth 
century that the effete dynasty of the Valois became 
extinct. Its abuses, its ideals, and its practices gave 
way to a directing influence so different from its 
predecessors as to seem by comparison as modern as the 
first quarter of the political twentieth century. The 
master mind was none other than that of Henry IV, the 
first of the Bourbons and the founder of policies, whick 
150 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

if they had been carried out, would no doubt have 
placed France during that century in the foremost rank 
of democratic republics, instead of rendering it the most 
formidable complete autocracy the world has ever seen. 
Alas, his life was cut off by an assassin in 1610, and the 
queen regent, Marie de' Medici, with her great minister 
Richelieu, who really ruled France (1624 to 1643), not 
only undid all that the great Henry had done, but laid 
foundations, which were built upon by Anne of Austria 
and Mazarin in the reign of Louis XIII (1610 to 
1643) and on until the majority of the new king, for the 
greatest and the most grandiose of all monarchic ex- 
pression of European social life. 

So far as we are concerned in this w^ork, one of the 
greatest things done by Henry IV was the issuance of 
the Edict of Nantes (1598), by which he placed all 
Protestants on an equal footing with Catholic subjects. 
This caused an enormous emigration of artists, crafts- 
men, and other workers, especially from Flanders, 
Holland, and England. Some, too, came from Italy and 
Spain. The effect on industrial production was almost 
instantaneous, but unfortunately not always to the ad- 
vantage of the art quality. The second act was his 
marriage to Marie de' Medici, the daughter of the Duke 
of Tuscany. She was a rather uncultivated, badly 
brought up bourgeoise from Florence; a niece of the 
great Catherine, but having neither her sense, taste, nor 
diplomacy. Her Baroque taste, bourgeois desires, and 
middle-class Italian friends, with her unbridled ambition, 
helped to bring out in France one of the most ostenta- 
tious and vulgar exhibitions of social splendour yet 
recorded. It would be much simpler if we could from 

151 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

this point discuss the whole social art of France during 
the periods formed by the queens and various mis- 
tresses of Henry IV, Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, than it 
would be to connect these periods with the monarchs 
themselves, none of whom, excepting Louis XIV, having 
had much real effect, as everything depended upon the 
ideas and caprices of each favourite who chanced to be 
the dictator at that time, and the use she made of her 
power. 

In 1601 Marie de' Medici came to France as the bride 
of Henry IV, who had divorced Marguerite de Valois to 
make this possible. She had brought France the dowry 
demanded, left her home in the Pitti Palace, met 
Henry at Lyons where, "clad sumptuously in a blue 
mantle wrought with the fleur-de-lis, she bore upon her 
head the royal crown." Here they tarried a short time 
when the queen set off for Paris, arriving two months 
later, while the king dashed off in another direction to 
meet his mistress Henriette d'Entraigues at the Chateau 
de Verneuil. This fact is recorded to throw a little 
light on the domestic conditions under which Marie 
began her life in France. She found her suite of four 
rooms in the Louvre '*too bare and unattractive" but 
soon made them to her liking, and may we be pardoned 
if we give the verbatim description of her bedroom as 
written by Battifol in his "Marie de' Medici and Her 
Court": 

"Of the four windows of the adjoining sleeping- 
room, the most beautiful of the suite, two opened 
upon the courtyard and two upon the Seine, the last 
with a balcony. The woodwork of the fireplace, the 
ceiling, and the wainscoting, was entirely renewed by 
152 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

Marie and bore the royal cipher of Henry IV. On a 
raised platform at the back of the room stood the 
splendid bed of which the wooden posts were richly 
carved and gilded, and hung with curtains changed 
twice in each year. Canopy, curtains, and the cover- 
ings of the tables in this apartment were all of the same 
stuff — in summer silk, in winter 'old-rose velvet,' both 
designed and furnished by the upholsterers Antoine 
Pierre Rousselet, and Simon Nantier. Magnificent 
rails of solid silver with ornaments in the same metal, 
twenty-four great chased silver plaques isolated this 
bed from the rest of the chamber as though within a 
sanctuary to be entered by none but the two valets de 
chambre in whose care it was. 'Four great candle- 
sticks, also of silver,' of like design and by the same 
artist, Nicholas Roger, stood at the four corners of the 
room. The cost of all this amounted to forty thousand 
francs. To complete the decoration, family portraits 
of the Medici hung upon the walls, which were also set 
about with cabinets — one, 'in imitation of the Chinese, 
with silver handles on the drawers,' being the work of 
Laurent Septabre, 'worker in ebony, dwelling in the 
gallery of the Louvre' while another, gilded and larger, 
and also 'after the Chinese,' was from the hand of 
Etienne Sager, 'master- worker in the imitation of 
Chinese art.' In one of these cabinets were bestowed 
the Queen's most valuable possessions, golden caskets, 
vases, and jewels; the key was held by the faithful 
valet de chambre, Nicholas Roger, who was also a gold- 
smith by trade. A precious casket, the gift of a Ger- 
man princess, artistic cups, rare porcelains, silver 
baskets, a reliquary ornamented with nineteen dia- 

153 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

monds and a pearl, a font of crystal for holy water 
* mounted in silver and having for sprinkler a crystal 
cup in the form of a shell,' and a thousand other objects 
of value completed the furnishings of this room." 

We are told that the queen's clothes filled a host of 
carved chests placed here and there, and in numberless 
small rooms set apart for that purpose. A description 
of the queen at toilet gives some idea of the quality of 
the materials used, and of the quantity from which the 
selections for the toilet were made. "Their first step 
was to clothe their mistress in a chemise of linen 
damasked with gold and red silk, 'worked with gold 
thread,' or white or black silk. The next garments 
were silk stockings, carnation yellow, or blue in colour, 
for Marie would never wear black unless when in 
mourning. A petticoat, selected from numerous ' heaps ' 
in the chests, followed — of 'slashed violet satin,' white 
satin lined with green taffetas, Chinese Habit' lined 
with yellow taffetas, yellow satin lined with red satin, 
carnation satin lined with yellow, thin brocatelle with 
blue ground, or black satin embroidered with gold 
flowers. Having made her choice, and still wearing the 
'high canvas night-cap' in which she slept, the Queen 
put on a dressing- jacket, and thus apparelled- 'in 
petticoat and night-cap,' gave audience to the people of 
her household. . . . The choice of the day's dress 
was an important question, and of dresses, skirts, 
mantles, vests, cimarres, pourpoints, demi-mantles, 
and capes, and all garments affected by the most 
fashionable ladies of the time, she naturally possessed 
a profusion, and these in the richest materials. . . . 
Setting aside the splendid dresses of ceremony for the 
154 




FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN. CHAR- 
ACTERISTIC QUALITIES AS WELL AS MATERIALS AND DETAILS ARE 
SIMILAR IN MASCULINE AND FEMININE APPAREL. 



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EARLY PART OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. MARIE 
DE MEDICI. WE MAY ASSUME THAT LOVE OF DISPLAY BORDERING 
ON VULGARITY INSPIRED THIS STYLE. ITS TRIUMPH IS SEEN IN 
THE RUFF, EARRINGS, AND OTHER JEWELS. 




FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. ANNE 
OF AUSTRIA. OSTENTATION, DISGUISE OF THE HUMAN FORM AND 
THE FEAR OF AN UNORNAMENTED SPOT CAN BE THE ONLY EX- 
PLANATION FOR THIS RESULT. COMPARE WITH PRECEDING. 




SECOND QUARTER OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. GERMAN. THE 
USE MADE OF FOREIGN POSSIBILITIES IN STYLE FOR THE INFANt's 
CLOTHES IS CHARACTERISTIC. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

moment — as a dress of cloth of gold on a ground of 
columbine and with a long train, a dress of gold and 
silver embroidery, a dress of blue velvet sewn with gold 
fleur-de-lis — the Queen's choice has fallen upon a more 
simple costume of carnation satin. This arranged to 
her satisfaction, her jewels, of which she has quantities 
scattered in different cabinets must not be forgotten, 
nor yet her ring. Her gold bracelets, studded with 
seventy-two small diamonds were purchased from 
FrauQois le Prestre, jeweller of Paris, for one thousand 
and fifty livres; her earrings, two great diamonds sur- 
rounded by lesser brilliants, were made by the jeweller, 
Jean Subtil. Her gold watch, valued at two thousand 
one hundred livres, is 'oval in shape and ornamented 
with several diamonds,' and she must not forget to 
place in her pocket for use at Mass the 'rosary of 
enamelled gold, embellished with diamonds,' a trifle 
worth nine thousand six hundred livres. And, thus 
adorned, the Queen must yet perfume herself." 

All this at the very beginning of a reign which in- 
creased in luxury, in abandon to the appetites, and in 
sumptuousness of surroundings, in geometric ratio to 
the time which the reign covered. A mere glimpse of 
one or two more descriptions given the sumptuous life 
of this Baroque Queen, and the rest of the picture must 
be left to the imagination of those who are familiar, or 
are interested enough to become so, with the twenty- 
two or more paintings (now in the Louvre) by Rubens, 
picturing some of the important events in her life; and 
then to the furniture of the period^ including tapestries, 
some in the Cluny Museum, some scattered about in 
private collections of those connoisseurs whose taste has 

155 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

prompted them to collect in the spirit of chivalry, 
curiosity, or self-indulgence. 

Her sheds were filled with *' heavy lumbering" 
coaches, the regular one of gilt, upholstered in red velvet 
and drawn by eight horses. The "rich coach" built in 
1604, upholstered also in red velvet and gold and 
heavily carved, stood next, and close by, the gala coach 
given to Marie by the king upon her arrival in France. 
This was upholstered in tan coloured velvet with silver 
tinsel, lined with carnation velvet and embroidered in 
gold and silver with curtains made of carnation damask. 
There were four special coaches for the court ladies, a 
coach for their women and coaches for girls, each drawn 
by six horses. Of all the coachmen there were but two, 
called "coachmen of the body," who were allowed to 
drive her majesty. They wore a livery of blue and red 
velvet entirely covered with gold embroidery; with this 
were a gold belt and shoulder knots, white silk stockings, 
and a gorgeous hat. Five postillions also in sumptuous 
liveries, leading the horses, with two footmen in scarlet 
mantles and breeches of blue velvet, doublets of cha- 
mois skin, and gold shoulder knots and belts, stood 
behind each coach. 

The queen was attended by twelve pages attired in 
cloth of gold, with borders of two colours, white and 
silver. These all rode behind the state coach on 
gorgeously caparisoned horses. A description of the 
extent of the wardrobe even of these lackeys was ap- 
palling, and "their conduct in the halls and chambers of 
the palace," says a writer, "was disgraceful." 

It is said of the beautiful Gabrielle d'Estrees, mistress 
of Henry IV, that her dress at court was so loaded with 
156 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

gold, silver, and precious stones that it was absolutely 
impossible for her to move about at all in full dress, and 
almost impossible for her to stand up, "such was the 
extent of her finery." 

^'Gabrielle d'Estrees, who wore her hair frizzed and 
drawn back in the shape of a heart, had a 'cotillon' of 
the colour of 'gold-dust of Turkey.' Her black satin 
gown, slashed with white, is mentioned by some 
writers. She paid 1900 crowns for the embroidered 
handkerchief she carried at a ballet. Some court 
ladies loaded themselves with such a weight of pearls 
and jewels that they were unable to move. At the 
baptism of the king's children, on September 14, 1606, 
the queen's gown, covered with 'thirty-two thousand 
pearls and three thousand diamonds, was beyond 
rivalry, and priceless.' Before that, in 1594, Gabrielle 
d'Estrees was so loaded with pearls and sparkling gems 
that 'she outshone the light of the torches.' She pos- 
sessed a 'cotte of Turkish cloth of gold, with flowers 
embroidered in carnation, white, and green,' and a 
'gown of flowered green velvet, lined with cloth of 
silver, and trimmed with gold and silver braid, and 
pipings of carnation satin.'" 

The Marechal de Bassompierre speaks of one of his 
own coats trimmed with pearls that cost him more than 
nine hundred pounds sterling. This item of expense is 
illuminating. 

Another mistress of the king, Henriette d'Entraigues, 
spoken of in early life as a tall slim creature well pro- 
portioned, fascinating, elegant and harmonious in line, 
is thus described after the death of the king: "She 
grew old gently, becoming fat and monstrous and think- 

157 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

ing only of her victuals, but her love for an inordinate 
display of jewels never left her, and she was heavily 
scented from head to foot until the end." This throws 
some more light on the phases of humanity that were 
finding in this reign and the next a "full and free" ex- 
pression, 

A costume historian speaks of the common dress of a 
gentleman as consisting of a doublet of silver tissue, 
white satin shoes, and white silk stockings, a rich black 
velvet coat bordered with rich embroidery (often in 
pearls and other gems) lined with cloth of silver, and a 
black velvet bonnet trimmed with precious stones of 
great worth. Beards were large and waxed so as to 
create an ''ugly look" as one writer avers. With all 
this we remember that it was in this reign that forks 
from Venice were first introduced into France, a proof 
that human progress was not arrested. 

The passion for low cut bodices became unbridled. 
Pope Innocent XI issued a bull commanding all women, 
married and single, "to cover their bosoms, shoulders 
and arms down to the waist with non-transparent 
materials on pain of excommunication." But we are 
told that it was all in vain, for the taste for the light 
transparent and low cut gowns "grew and enjoyed a 
long career." 

A sort of gum was used which kept the hair in place. 
False hair of all kinds was worn. Wigs were powdered, 
with one colour for brunettes and another for blondes. 
Many kinds of head-dresses appeared and were called 
Spanish, Venetian, or anything else that seemed 
descriptive. Patches came into style about 1550, and 
by the advent of the Regency society recognized seven 
158 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

distinct kinds. High-born ladies wore black masks and 
various brightly coloured stockings. 

All these details would be tiresome were it not that 
through these glimpses into the social expression of the 
day one gets a clear idea of the materialism of the time, 
of the dulled sense of aesthetic discrimination, and of the 
extravagance and brazen exploitation of all that the 
period really meant. 

It would not be worth while here to separate the 
periods of Henry IV and Louis XIII except for two 
things: first, the increase of Spanish influence and 
through this influence the introduction of more Spanish 
materials and fashions into France through the marriage 
of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria, a Spanish prin- 
cess; second, the great centralizing work of Richelieu 
which during this reign increased the splendour of 
court life, but divided the power of social and political 
dictation between the court and the great minister 
himself. This increased the number of court hangers- 
on, divided tastes, and gave greater liberty to self-ex- 
pression. In fact, one authority called it the reign in 
which "the women shone in jewels as much as they 
could, others in embroidery, feathers, ribbands, and 
good looks, each according to her means and the gifts of 
nature, for there was ample liberty, not to say license in 
dress." 

Evidently the great Cardinal, himself of the dress 
party, kept the Vatican quiet, thus staving off the 
sumptuary laws which attempted to harass the gentry 
of the previous reign. 

Richelieu died in 1642 and Marie de' Medici five 
months before him, at the court of Charles I of England 

159 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

and her daughter, Queen Henrietta. Louis XIII, dying 
one year later, in 1643, Anne of Austria became Regent 
during the minority of the young king Louis XIV, who 
was then but five years old. 

The social life of this period is perhaps the most diffi- 
cult of all to picture because of its aims, duration, 
peculiarities, and accomplishments. In this reign an- 
other and perhaps the greatest of all forms of material- 
ism was crystallized and expressed, not only in France 
but in all Christendom where it was adopted in some 
shape or form, and its end is not yet, although the king 
passed on in 1715. 

Whatever one may think of the politics of the most 
absolute of monarchs, of the most hypocritical of all 
religious expressions and of one of the strangest social 
conditions in all history, he is driven to amazement at 
the system of repression and oppression which could so 
hypnotize the people as to make such a situation possi- 
ble, while the social life, particularly as it was expressed 
at the court of Versailles, was the greatest of all mar- 
vels. 

Louis XIV, unlike most monarchs, was in himself an 
institution. He was an idea, the state, the church, 
around which all social policies were formed and 
through whose satellites they were all expressed. Never 
before has there been such perfect autocratic machinery 
of so complete and satisfying splendour, and never did 
one function better. 

During the reign of Louis XIII the state was split into 
fragments. Nobles fought against each other, the king 
against the Cardinal, Spain against the king, while 
robbers. Huguenots, and freebooters made war on every- 
160 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

body. Industry lagged, Paris only was gay. Science 
made some progress but art was practically inactive. 
The problem was tremendous, but a process of solution 
was found in the road to complete autocracy and a self- 
aggrandizement of blatant grandeur incomparable in 
its quantity, its heaviness, its splendour, and sometimes 
in its tawdriness. 

This reign may be said to be divided into three parts: 
the first, from the king's accession to the death of Maz- 
arin in 1661, while the dominating influence was that 
of Anne of Austria; the second from 1661 to the death 
of the greatest of all ministers of France, Colbert, in 
1683. This period was the one when the king was under 
the spell of several of the most important of his mis- 
tresses, including Mile, de la Valliere, and Mme. de 
Montespan, whose every whim was law, not unto the 
king alone, but to all who sougTit favour of him in any 
way. Their power in the social world was final, their 
influence in the political field practically unlimited, and 
spiritual affairs were not allowed to assert themselves 
although hypocritical forms were observed. The third 
period was contained between 1683 and the death of 
the king in 1715, during which time the king was in the 
hands of Mme. de Maintenon, whom he married after 
the death of Maria Theresa in 1683. Probably no 
woman in France has ever received so much attention 
by writers as Mme. de Maintenon, certainly no woman 
has ever had such widely divergent treatment at their 
hands, their characterizations ranging all the way from 
that of a saint to that of the most bigoted and un- 
scrupulous of all women. 

During the first period turmoil and discord were 

161 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

constant. It is strange how like it was to our modern 
conditions. **The lower classes grew turbulent and 
demanded their rights to equal those of the bourgeoisie; 
the nobles became insolent, and foreign nations took 
advantage and invaded the country. Conspiracies 
hatched in boudoirs, broke out in streets, and women 
placed themselves at the head of mobs." Mazarin 
once said that there were three women in France capa- 
ble of governing or entirely upsetting a kingdom. "Par- 
lour Bolsheviki" were active, red agitators were as 
noisy as they are now, while insurrection and sedition 
of strangely familiar kinds were everywhere. All this 
gradually sank beneath the surface as the conception of 
the ''Grand Monarque" moved to complete realiza- 
tion. 

The completion of this triumphal march to absolute 
autocratic self-aggrandizement, was reached in the 
second of the three periods of this reign, between 
1661 and 1683, during a good part, of which time Mme. 
de Montespan's power was the controlling force. 
Amusement or entertainment was the chief concern of 
everyone at Versailles, with the supreme satisfaction in 
these matters centred in the person of the king, at 
least outwardly. Condemned to constant ceremonial 
by virtue of this particular type of court life, committed 
to the bluff of absolutely divine right in all things spir- 
itual and secular, and expected to keep the hosts of 
court hangers-on placated and contented, Louis and 
the great Colbert were taxed to the limit to collect 
money, and discover persons who could invent and 
execute the proper settings for this punctilious, per- 
functory, and extravagant court life. 
162 




FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. JAMES I. 
IF SO ORDINARY AND CLUMSY A PRINCE IS THUS ARRAYED, WHAT OF 
THE MORE FASTIDIOUS? 




BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ITALIAN, 
THE PASSING OF THE RUFF AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE WIDE. 
FLAT COLLAR IS WELL SHOWN. 




AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CLMLRY. FLOREN- 
TINE. WHILE MATERIAL VULGARITY PREVAILED THROUGHOUT 
CHRISTENDOM THERE WAS EVIDENTLY IN ITALY ANOTHER QUALITY 
WORTH RECOGNIZING. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

To this end systems of taxation, each more sweeping 
than the last, were devised; rich materials were sought 
for in every land; foreign designers and craftsmen were 
called in to do their utmost to satisfy the court demands 
in every phase of vanity's creation. 

It is recorded in 1662 that pleasure and plenty reigned 
at court. Money was abundant; every purse was open 
and young men got as much cash as they chose from the 
notaries. There was a constant succession of feasts, 
dances, and entertainments of every kind. In 1664 
Louis gave to each of his courtiers presents of dress 
stuffs "because they were positively no longer free to 
dress as they liked." At Marly he provided in every 
suite of apartments, for every court lady, a complete 
wardrobe, with laces, so that they might not have to 
bring costumes when the court was in residence. Even 
the royal princess had to be granted special favour "to 
buy or wear blue silk embroidery." 

Materials grew more magnificent. We read of them 
brocaded with red and gold leaves, violet, gold and sil- 
ver flowers, and there were brocades with gold and silver 
interwoven threads. Dresses were painted with ex- 
quisite flowers and figures; even linen, formerly printed, 
came in for painted scenes and bouquets of flowers in 
which "there was more green than formerly." Net- 
work coifs, an English material of linen mounted on silk, 
clothes with "raised ornaments," "Temple" and other 
forms of jewellery are freely mentioned. 

Fashion was etiquette at the court and the court 
was the kernel of life, and Louis XIV was the dictator of 
this cycle. His fancy, changeable and capricious, in 
detail was steadfast in its formalism, so that fashions 

163 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

were of the moment only. New things and novel ones 
were sought by every clever woman whose appearance 
in them was a signal for a rush to imitate them, after 
which came a greater rush to drop them in order to find 
a more astonishing substitute. The reigning court fav- 
ourite was the leader and the great inspiration through 
which invention was stimulated. 

An amusing instance of the derivation of a single 
fashion is given in the description of a hunting party 
at which the king and one of his mistresses, the Duch- 
esse de Fontanges, were present. A sudden gust of 
wind blew aside her elaborate head-dress. She imme- 
diately tied it in place with her garters allowing the 
ribbon ends to fall over her forehead. The king was 
delighted with this device and the court is said to 
have adopted the fashion immediately, as did the en- 
tire bourgeoisie, naming it *' coiffure a la Fontanges." 
This fashion was taken up by the gentry in England also 
and it persisted there for some time under its French 
name. 

Concerning the universality of extravagance and the 
determination of all classes to imitate so far as possible 
the ways of the high-born, regardless of their poverty, 
Dubois de Montendre writes : 

"If the people were poor, should we see neckerchiefs 
worth twenty or thirty crowns on the wives of cooks .'^ 
or liveried lacqueys carrying a cushion behind their 
mistress, a mere shopkeeper's wife.^^ Should we see 
milliners and butchers' daughters wearing dresses worth 
300 or 400 francs.^ or gold trimmings brought down so 
low as to adorn laundresses withal .^^ And is it not true 
that clothes ought to be infallible tokens by which to 
164 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 

distinguish rank and conditions in life, and that in 
the gardens of the Luxembourg or the Tuileries we 
ought to have no difficulty in distinguishing a duchess 
from a bookseller's spouse, a marchioness from a gro- 
cer's wife, or a countess from a cook? " 

We are told, toOj how the women hastened the decay 
of their beauty and urged on the appearance of old age 
by the unlimited use of certain powders and paints for 
the complexion. La Bruyere says that "if their wish 
is to be pleasing to men, if it is for the men's sake that 
they lay on their white and red paint, I have inquired 
into the matter, and I can tell them that in the opinion 
of men, or at least of the great majority, the use of white 
paint and rouge makes them hideous and disgusting; 
and that rouge by itself, both ages and disguises them." 

We are not told that it made any difference whatever 
what the men thought, and from our own experience 
we imagine there was nothing to tell. The probability 
is they painted on, increasing in skill, and that in the end 
the stern sex bowed submissively to fashion's mandate 
and woman's whim even if naught of nature remained 
by which a human being could be identified. Mme. de 
Sevigne describes a dress given to Mme. de Montespan 
as ''a gown of gold upon gold material, in gold, bor- 
edered with gold upon which was a band of gold mixed 
with a particular kind of gold, and forming the most 
*$divine material that could ever be imagined." This 
•is interesting to contrast with a description given of 
;Mtle. de la Valliere in 1660, who was dressed in white, 
'*' simply embroidered with gold stars and leaves in 
Persian stitches, and a pale blue sash tied in a large knot 
heiow the bosom. In her fair waving hair, falling in 

W5 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

profusion about her neck and shoulders, she wore flow- 
ers and pearls mixed together. Two large emeralds 
shone in her ears, and her arms were bare and encircled 
above the elbow by a gold open work bracelet set with 
opals." 

By 1670 women of rank were all wearing an under- 
skirt of glace satin, with an overskirt trailing behind 
and carried over the left arm. Sleeves were short, 
puffed, and trimmed profusely with lace and ribbon. 
Bodices reached to the hips, fitting at the waist. The 
underskirts had two rows of trimming and the overskirt 
one. As the century progressed costumes became more 
and more a symbol of rank, and less and less individual 
in their conception, so that by 1683, or the beginning of 
the third period in the development of this grand style, 
the court became weary of ceremonial restrictions. 
By 1700 these were boring them to extinction as well as 
the heavy and hypocritical "outward observances" 
inaugurated by Mme. de Maintenon and rigidly in- 
sisted on after her marriage to the king, by which she, 
through the king, sought to control not only the con- 
science of the court but the outward manifestation of 
life as well. She thought perchance to atone through 
''precise observance" for a part of the wrongs already 
committed. This wrote the final chapter in this par- 
ticular manifestation of seventeenth century material- 
ism. 

''Towards 1700," writes Michelet, "the women of 
the time no longer show the classic features of a Ninon, 
or a Montespan, nor the rich development that they so 
freely displayed. But, the devil was no loser. If 
backs and shoulders are concealed from our gaze, the 
166 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ITALY 

small portion that we are permitted to admire, and that 
is, as it were, offered to our inspection, is but the more 
attractive. There is a sort of audacity about the un- 
covered brow, the hair drawn back so as to show its 
every root, the high comb, or the diadem-cap, that 
seems little in harmony with the soft and childish feat- 
ures of the day. This childishness, so devoid of inno- 
cence, combined with the masculine Steinkirk, gives 
them the appearance of pets of the seraglio, or of impu- 
dent pages who have stolen women's garments." 

The social life of this, the great period, of Louis XIV, 
was well founded on a system of ceremonial formalism, 
and its expression was adequately crystallized in terms 
of gorgeous materialism, awesome and grandiose, but 
without soul, and at its end without even the attraction 
of individual or personal charm. 

The story of the seventeenth century in Italy is a 
recital of the epidemic in art expression known as the 
Baroque. The art expression of the sixteenth century 
was idealistic and optimistic even if it was sometimes 
heavy and gorgeous, while that of the seventeenth cen- 
tury was pompous and fanatically materialistic. It 
had its birth in the gradual decay of the ideals of the 
Renaissance and in the general revolt of individualism 
against classicism. Vernon thus describes this arrog- 
ant new manifestation of flamboyant materialism: *'It 
signified a revolt of individualism against classic rules, 
a craving after novelty, an avoidance of simplicity at 
whatever cost, too often merely culminating in the 
bizarre. . . .. Classical fronts are put to old 
churches, the architraves often without any building 
behind them; the orders of architecture are hopelessly 

167 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

mixed; columns of fantastic shapes are painted or decor- 
ated with bronze; sometimes they are broken, some- 
times appear to fall, but are supported by a muscular 
angel. In one case at least they stand upside down. 
There are crooked lines, uneven angles, ornaments 
used as supports, the heavy parts made to appear light. 
Painted imitations of marble vaunt themselves shame- 
lessly. The colossal is admired simply on account 
of its size. And it is all over-loaded with decoration; 
statues stand at every corner, sit on cornices, peep 
under arches. Fat, simpering angels sprawl and wave 
fluttering inscriptions. Polychromic decoration is im- 
mensely popular; its apotheosis is reached in the Chapel 
in S. Lorenzo built as their family mausoleum by the 
Medici Dukes, and covered all over with patterns in 
coloured marble and precious stones. Sculpture and 
painting show the same tendency to frenzied agitation, 
strained attitudes, flying garments, over-loaded detail. 
Some artists incline toward false sentimentality, others 
toward a disagreeable realism, loving to depict the 
horrors of martyrdom, and ministering to the most 
depraved tastes under the pretence of aiding devotion." 

The Baroque was found in any place where the 
church or social life stood panting for a new sensation, 
and creative invention promised to satisfy its demand. 
It flourished most, perhaps, at Rome, Venice, and 
Naples, although there are some other local manifesta- 
tions quite as individual and just as interesting. Rome 
is, however, usually called "the cradle of the Baroque 
style." 

During the first half of the century Italy was practi- 
cally in the hands of Spain, which had an ever-increasing 
168 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ITALY 

influence until about 1650, at which time French influ- 
ence began to make itself felt, becoming, by the end of 
the century, or at least early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, practically supreme. Naturally, then, the first 
half of the century was a struggle to express in terms of 
material the half Italian, half Spanish, stilted and 
grandiose life which had grown up in Italy under Span- 
ish rule, and to do so in such a manner as to conform to 
the prevailing anti-classic attitude. 

"Ingenious invention" was ever active and in the 
decorative excesses and blatant extravagance of this 
period may be discovered the motifs which formed the 
basis for most of the decorative designs throughout 
Europe, during this and a part of the eighteenth century. 

Beyond this there was still in Italian consciousness 
that sensitiveness to beauty, that experience of the 
Renaissance with its exquisite taste development and 
that inborn respect and love for the best, that forbade 
even Venice a complete surrender to the sweeping 
hurricane of the Baroque. Molmenti has this to say of 
the matter: 

"But in Venice, even in the Seicento, in the midst of 
the flood of barocco which threatened to sweep all be- 
fore it, we may still discover a limpid stream of purest 
taste. The early art found its votaries, and the works 
of the old masters and antique objects of virtu were 
sought for and collected with loving discrimination by 
patricians, prelates, bankers, and merchants. 

"This rich store of precious objects began to stimulate 
the cupidity of foreign amateurs, and to rouse the 
greed of gain in the breasts of certain degenerate Ven- 
etians, and there came into being that trafficking in 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

works of art which the RepubHc endeavoured with 
some success to hold in check." 

At the close of the century a demand arose for the 
formation of an academy to preserve the art treasures of 
Venice from foreign spoliation, and we are told to our 
gratification that when England, France, or other 
countries wanted to acquire and use Venetian art 
masterpieces, Venice saw to it that they paid a good 
round price for the thing which they could not them- 
selves produce. 

Notwithstanding the influence of Spain in Italy, 
Venice, *'the majestic city of the sea," continued well 
toward the middle of the seventeenth century, to hold 
a position of individuality because of her geographic 
position, form of government, and her traditions re- 
garding wealth, fashion, and amusement. The city was 
filled with places of entertainment to suit the taste of 
every type of mind and ''every degree of moral 
shadow." It is said that every "satiated rake" in 
Europe found his way at some time during the year to 
Venice, where no matter what his state of mind, it was 
sure to find a new channel and to experience a new 
sensation. This condition of abandon to sense enjoy- 
ment, perhaps the most complete yet seen, is to be 
considered as contrasted against a background of art 
and culture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
and in the light also of an all too evident truth that 
Venice had reached the zenith of her power, and that 
already the slow decay and disintegration of this great 
and ancient civilization had set in, although for a 
century or more yet the laugh and revel went on loud 
and ever more hectic, until by the end of the eighteenth 

170 




MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. CHARACTERISTIC FASH- 
IONS OF THIS PERIOD FROM NORTHWESTERN EUROPE. 




MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. GERMAN. THE AP- 
PLICATION OF FOREIGN FASHION AND DECORATION CHARACTERIS- 
TICALLY WORKED OUT. 




ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. SPANISH. 
THIS ILLUSTRATION SHOULD BE COMPARED WITH EACH OF THE 
FIVE PRECEDING ONES. 




PAST THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. 
CONSIDER THE SUBTLE RELATIONSHIP AND THE RESTORATION OF THE 
IDEA OF A HUMAN BODY TO CLOTHE INSTEAD OF TO HANG MATERIALS 
ON. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ITALY 

century it liad entirely spent itself. The manifestation 
of this great civilization in the form of architecture and 
other visual arts alone remains to awe us, and to stimu- 
late an imagination seeking in vain to comprehend the 
''glory that was hers," and the vast range of semi- 
barbarism, culture, and sensuality that she had lived 
through and contributed to some extent to other 
peoples less finely strung, less fortunately situated, less 
richly endowed, and less self-indulgent. 

Amidst all this the fact remains that an art sense 
lingered still, active in spite of the triumph of sensual- 
ism. It is this fact that lends a charm, a positive 
fascination, in fact, to the Venetian social arts, material 
as they are, that is perhaps wanting in the same material 
expression of the seventeenth century in France and 
absent entirely in that of England, particularly in that 
pertaining to the first half of the century. 

French and Spanish fashions came into Venice after 
the middle of the century. At first they were accepted 
in principle only, but rendered in terms of Venetian 
feeling and appreciation, the same magnificent materials 
exquisitely used, the same gorgeous colours combined in 
the same taste. The established habits of class distinc- 
tion, too, seem to have been little disturbed at first. 
Gradually, however, as the pompous and stilted power 
of the new Spanish aristocracy made itself felt, and as 
the magnificent machine of Louis XIV began to func- 
tion, extending its influence to every country of Europe, 
the fashions of Spain and France were accepted in 
letter as well as spirit, and imitations of foreign man- 
ners, customs, and habits were followed by an earnest 
attempt at imitation in dress. 

171 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Molmenti says that ''the gown or toga always re- 
mained obhgatory for the patricians, though it gradu- 
ally lost its popularity in spite of its becomingness." 
The nobles adopted the fashion of leaving the black 
toga open in front, to show off their gay and highly 
coloured garments underneath, and later in the century 
they threw it off as soon as they left the council chamber 
that their finery might be visible; in this is seen the 
complete surrender by the Venetian aristocracy to 
fashion's dictates and folly's whims. Another author- 
ity says: "Fashion in fact became more and even 
more licentious, until a writer of the Seicento expresses 
a doubt whether the young men of Italy intend to 
change their sex altogether." Another satirist paints 
"the young bloods of Venice" in most discouraging 
terms of complete capitulation to the senses and to the 
vulgar show of effeminacy. 

The Venetian nun, Arcangela Tarabotti, tells us that 
the men were far vainer than the women and decked 
themselves out in plush, velvet, and damask, in shirts 
of the finest linen trimmed with Mechlin lace, "all 
bedizened with braid, with gold and silver tags, with 
lace, with rings, English hose, tight shoes which gave 
them small feet, and at the points enormous rosettes, 
embroidered sashes around their waists and with 
braces to keep up their breeches." 

After the middle of the century when the French 
fashions had begun to make themselves felt we read 
"that effeminate French costumes of doublet and 
waistcoat" were coming into fashion. They were 
made of embroidered silk and were worn with white 
silk stockings and shoes, with gold or silver buckles, a 
172 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ITALY 

three cornered hat, and ruffles of lace at the wrists and 
breast. The coat was made of silk or cloth. This 
fashion in its entirety was adopted both by the nobles 
and by the middle class who vied with the nobles for **a 
first place in ostentation." 

It seems that in Venice as in France young people 
began to plaster their hair with pomatum and also to 
cover it with powder, a practice which was character- 
ized as ''scarlet and wanton." Only a little later they 
were found with ''silver back combs, rouge pots, 
scissors, pins, curling irons, brushes, soap and looking 
glasses, and a thousand other accessories to cope with 
feminine neatness." 

Tarabotti rebukes those who curl their beards and 
moustaches with curling tongs and paste them shiny 
with citron. Another writer declares that "a man 
without a beard is hardly worthy of the name of man, 
his beard being the greatest proof of his manhood." In 
1657 one, Foscari, was berated for being such a boor, an 
ancient and one opposed to all progress because he still 
wore a beard and cut his hair. These several comments 
on the fashions of the sterner sex are recorded to vary 
the monotony of always illustrating the trend of style 
by the idiosyncrasies of the ladies of the day, and also 
because the decades of the last half of the century in 
their completeness, as enriched by the ancient grandeur 
of Venice, are better seen from this angle. The change 
from the haughty grandeur of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
century nobles, and the calm and dignified simplicity of 
the middle classes, to the sensuous materialistic deca- 
dence of the seventeenth century marks one of the strang- 
est swings of nature's pendulum recorded in history. 

173 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Of amusements the Venetians were inordinately 
fond. Much time was spent by them in music, the- 
atricals, and dancing. Feasting and gaming of all sorts 
were universal. Dining-tables were always set for un- 
expected guests who might come in at any time, nobles 
vying with one another to see who could have the most 
noted visitors and produce the most "costly and 
succulent meals." 

In the country villas of the patricians life was as gay as 
in Venice itself. Molmenti thus describes one of these 
entertainments : 

**In the Seicento the Procurator Marco Contarini 
gave a series of simply amazing theatrical performances 
in his villa at Piazzola. In November, 1679, Dr. 
Piccioli's drama, Le Amazzoni nelle I sole Fortunate, set 
to music by Carlo Pallivincino, was put on the stage; 
and the following year and in the same month the 
Berenice Vendicativa, set to music by Domenico Freschi. 
Invitations were issued to princes, both foreign and 
Italian, to ambassadors, nobles, Venetian ladies and 
gentlemen of the mainland. The hall was capable of 
holding a thousand persons, and was lit with wax 
candies; the boxes were adorned with gilded stucco and 
mirrors, while on each side of the stage stood two great 
statues of elephants. The curtain was of crimson vel- 
vet with gold lace for the first performance and of gold- 
coloured velvet for the second. When the curtain 
rose, all the lights were extinguished in the hall, and the 
stage alone appeared brilliantly illuminated. There 
were three hundred performers, and coaches, tri- 
umphal cars, and as many as one hundred horses 
crowded the stage." 
174 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

We read with amazement of the hosts of coaches, 
beriins, sedan chairs, carved and gilded, with the 
coachman and other lackeys in brilliant liveries of gold 
colour and lace. Coaches were lined with velvet and 
damask and some were set with precious stones. To 
picture in imagination these villas with their enchanting 
gardens, their gaily decorated rooms, and the care-free 
people seeking only amusement, sense enjoyment, and 
appetite satisfaction through show and more show, is to 
sense in part the quality of the particular brand of 
materialism that Venice contributed to that powerful 
wave which completely engulfed the ideal of the 
Renaissance, matured to ripeness the mad conceptions 
of the Baroque, and prepared this city and its people 
for the wild orgies in which they completely lost them- 
selves during the social development of the eighteenth 
century. 

To attempt to trace the Baroque in Rome, or in any 
other large city of Italy, would require a chapter by it- 
self. Suffice it to say that the principles involved were 
the same in all cases, the results identical in quality 
though differing in material, and that while trying to 
reach the spirit through the senses, the church has left 
us a record of its success in its bombastic churches, 
papal tombs, Baroque accessories to the ceremonial, and 
in the records of the lives ofthose who participated in 
the development of this ideal. 

In spite of Spanish and Italian influences during the 
reign of Henry VIII, with German and Flemish in the 
days of Elizabeth, England was, at the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, still just about as English as she 
was a century before. True, the country had accepted 

175 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

some of the new culture as developed under Renaissance 
influence, and these ideas had slowly percolated into the 
lives of the nobles, taking some hold on the minds of the 
middle classes, particularly the intellectuals and the 
great traders. This was not, however, wholehearted as 
it was in France. These ideas were not allowed to 
displace natural traditions in an organized form. This 
last fact, that is, the determination of British mind to 
preserve inviolate not only British ideas and traditions 
but British ideals of individual liberty of thought and of 
action, is clearly seen. 

That is the principal reason for the lack of organized 
development in Britain which many critics have noted, 
and is also the real reason for the special, individual high 
lights in some forms of British art, as well as for the in- 
different and clumsy art attitude of the masses of the 
people, be they high or low in the social scale. 

This same individual ideal, in part at least, accounts 
also for the failure to crystallize a monarchic social 
life so that the art expression of it should be a homo- 
geneous organized unit. Instead, the buying of art 
objects is left to an expert with a keen intellectual sense 
of their intrinsic and money value (even unto this day) 
while foreign fashions are accepted, and foreign objects 
of art are used to express their ideas of fashionable 
social life. 

In 1603 the Tudor dynasty was finished. James I, 
the first of the Stuarts, ascended the throne. From 
this reign on we connect in an intimate way the develop- 
ment of American Colonial life with the life of the 
older European countries, particularly with England 
and France, both of whose ideals were to play an im- 
176 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

portant part, but in which those of England were to 
become dominant. This, too, is the reign in which 
Shakespeare died. Bacon was active, the Thirty Years 
War was begun in England, and most important of all, 
the contest between the religious factions — Romanists, 
the established church, and the Protestant dissenters — 
which lasted in one form or another for a century or 
more, greatly influenced social life, and consequently 
its expression in clothes. 

For James I himself there is nothing agreeable to say, 
for his queen nothing either way, so that any social 
development within the court worthy of note was im- 
possible. An English writer of fashion says: 

"The reign of James .the First is not very fertile in 
fashions, and that monarch did not introduce a single 
new one into England. He himself cared not for adorn- 
ing his person; on the contrary, a love of ease and com- 
fort seems to have banished from his mind all wish for 
vain attire. His usual costume was a doublet, quilted 
so thick that it could resist the thrust of a dagger, and 
his lower garments were plaited and stuffed to the ut- 
most extent. But when out hunting, his favourite dress 
much resembled modern trousers. The ruff, too, was 
not forgotten, and he sometimes wore a hat and feather, 
but w^s highly incensed when one of his attendants 
wished him to wear a Spanish hat, and also with the 
prevailing mode of placing roses on the shoes, which he 
said made him look like a ruff -footed dove." It is said 
that when James came to the throne there was in the 
wardrobe of royalty in the Tower of London an im- 
mense stock of dresses belonging to many of the ancient 
kings, but that he in his parsimony and bad taste dis- 

177 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

posed of them all, much to the disgust of those for whom 
they had either a "sentimental or a curious" interest. 
These two adjectives are illuminating, as well as the 
incident of James's disposition of the royal wardrobe. 

The quality of the ruler, however, did not prevent the 
natural vanities of the people from some manifestation 
in the matter of costume. We find them wearing silk 
garters, puffed in great knots below the knees, with 
yellow silk stockings, and their cloaks were embroidered 
heavily. On the other hand they did away with ex- 
pensive ruffs and took to broad square pointed linen 
collars without plaits or lace, as ugly no doubt as the 
ideals that inspired them. These were starched with a 
yellow starch imported from France. 

One of the events of the reign was the marriage of the 
Princess Elizabeth to the Prince Palatine. We find 
her clothed very simply on this occasion in ** white 
vestments" with her hair hanging down her back, and 
only one ornament, a diamond set in jewels. In 
contrast to this simplicity is the description of the 
costume of a man who went as ambassador to the court 
of France after the death of Louis XIII, in 1610: 

"The cloak and hose were of fine beaver, richly em- 
broidered in silver and gold, particularly the cloak, 
within and without, nearly to the cape. The doublet 
was cloth of gold, embroidered so thick that it could not 
be discerned, and a white beaver hat, suitable, full of 
embroidery above and below." 

One important thing shows that even this court at- 
titude could not wholly control the longing for an idol 
to exploit. This is shown by the introduction of foreign 
lace which by the end of the reign became a mania, 
178 




SAME EPOCH AS THE PRECEDING ILLUSTRATION. A NATIVE ENGLISH 
TASTE ADAPTING FRENCH FASHION ON FRENCH GROUND. COM- 
PARE WITH PRECEDING FOR FEELING. 




ABOUT THE SAME EPOCH AS THE TWO PRECEDING ILLUSTRATIONS, 
WITH WHICH THIS ONE SHOULD BE SEEN. ITALIAN. 




THIRD QUARTER OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. VENETIAN. 
THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV IN FRANCE, WITH VENETIAN AND 
EASTERN MATERIALS AND FEELING* 







LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. MILITARY SOCIAL FASH- 
IONS AT A TIME IN THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV ARE WELL PICTURED 
HERE. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

lasting well through the century, as evidenced by the 
costumes of the reign of Charles I and Charles II, and 
by Vandyke's portraits. The amount of lace used, and 
the detailed way in which it is treated, show how im- 
portant this item of apparel was then considered. 

If the period of James I lacked the inspiration of art 
or fashion, that of Charles I beginning in 1625 made up 
for lost time. The king himself, a fashionable devotee, 
married Henrietta of France, daughter of Marie de' 
Medici, whose inherited taste and early training were 
not calculated to curtail the king's desire for sumptuous 
show or extravagant display. The French court now 
became the seat of manners and the source of fashions. 
The idiosyncrasies of the English king and his favourites 
were the avenues for its infiltration. 

About the end of the last reign appeared the fashion 
for men of wearing ear-rings and also "roses stuck in the 
ears." The fashion was carried over and fitted the 
mental state of this reign very well. Many great 
changes also came about. The hair, for example, was 
worn well down on the forehead, well parted, and the 
notorious "love-lock" (a curl on the left side of the head 
longer than the rest of the hair) was invented by the 
king himself. This innovation it is said caused more 
commotion among the "staid people of the country" 
than anything the king had done thus far. W^ith the 
adoption of this queer fashion beards began to disappear 
and the faces were finally clean shaven. This is a 
comfort when we remember the love-lock. 

In general the old stiff collars went and the new soft 
falling collars of the Vandyke style came in their place. 
Doublets were still fashionable, slashed, puffed, and 

179 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

embroidered. The sleeves were also slashed and 
bright coloured satins were puffed in. Lace dangled at 
the wrists. The most striking fashion, though, was the 
introduction of the trunk hose which an authority thus 
describes : 

"At the time when trunk hose came in fashion, some 
young men used to stuff them so with rags and other 
like things, that you might find some that used such 
inventions to extend them in compass with certainly as 
great eagerness as the women of all classes did take 
pleasure to wear enormous, great, and stately verding- 
ales; for this was the same affectation, being a kind of 
verdingale hose." 

The sugar loaf hat was worn, powders and perfumes 
were adopted and the ''delights of feminine toilet" be- 
came the fashion for men. John Bulwer quotes this 
comment on the dressing of the hair: 

''Our gallant witty noddles are put into such a pure 
witty trim, the dislocations of every hair so exactly 
set, the whole bush so curiously candied, and (what is 
most prodigious) the natural jet of some of them so 
exalted into a perfect azure, that their familiar friends 
have much to do to own their faces; for by their 
powdered heads you would take them to be meal- 
men." 

Peck, the antiquarian, says that he has a portrait of 
Charles I and adds that the costume portrayed was the 
usual dress of men with the addition of "thin flimsy 
Spanish leather boots." His description follows: 

"He wore a falling band, a short green doublet, the 
arm-part towards the shoulders wide and slashed, zig- 
zag, turned-up ruffles, very long green breeches, tied far 
180 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

below the knee with long yellow ribbons, red stockings, 
great shoe-roses, and a short red cloak, lined with blue, 
with a star on the shoulder." 

The fashionable peculiarities of the ladies of the 
period are pretty well embodied in the following rather 
extraordinary questions propounded by one of the con- 
temporary writers of the time: 

"Why do they adorn themselves, with so many 
colours of herbs, fictitious flowers, curious needle- 
workes, quaint devices, sweet-smelling odours; with 
those inestimable riches of precious stones, pearls, 
rubies, diamonds, emeralds, etc.? Why do they crown 
themselves with gold and silver, use coronets and tires 
of several fashions, deck themselves with pendants, 
bracelets, ear-rings, chains, girdles, rings, pins, spangles, 
embroideries, shadows, rebatoes, versicolour ribands? 
Why do they make such glorious shows with their 
scarfs, feathers, fans, masks, furs, laces, tiffanies, ruffs, 
falls, calls, cuffs, damasks, velvets, tinsels, cloths of 
gold and silver tissue? . . . It is hard," continues 
the same writer, "to derive the abominable pedigree of 
cobweb lawn, yellow-starched ruffs, which so much 
disfigured our nation, and render them so ridiculous 
and fantastical." 

Gowns had very long trains and left the shoulders 
entirely bare. Heels of shoes were so high that Cowley 
declares that ladies of quality can no longer walk except 
some one lead them. Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, 
rings, and every kind of jewellery are frequently men- 
tioned; buttons set in diamonds, emeralds, and rubies 
were used, and one man is rebuked for having no less 
than twenty-five suits of clothes with far too much fine 

181 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

lace upon them, and for bedecking himself with sundry 
jewels. 

These are some among other extravagant and queer 
exhibitions of an inordinate appetite for material dis- 
play, without judgment or reason. They are the 
distinctly recognizable echoes of the French court 
during the influence of Marie de' Medici, and the sensu- 
ous ideas and mannerism from far-off Venice, whose 
fashions yet found some place in English taste. 

But all this was not English. It was but the mate- 
rialism of the century, epidemic and infectious, brewed 
and disseminated throughout Christendom, and ex- 
pressed by each nation and each individual in its own 
peculiar way, with its own particular weakness, and 
with its own avenues of filtration for the ideas which 
others were expressing. 

The reign of Charles I happened to furnish the 
avenue for French infiltration, and the quality of the 
court consciousness provided the particular character- 
istics necessary for a weak imitation of this imported 
expression. 

Puritanism was still alive in England and at this 
juncture saw its golden opportunity in the execution of 
Charles I in 1649. As it was then conceived it was well 
embodied in Cromwell, Bunyan, Milton, and other 
intellectual, religious, and political aspirants. The 
history of the next ten or twelve years tells the story of 
the struggle, political, religious, and social, between the 
two opposing ideals of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, 
Lord Protector of England. The latter is described as a 
very frugal and devout man, modest in his clothes and 
simple in his habits, and we would respectfully add, 
182 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

without a sign of aesthetic sense (if such a thing may be) 
and with no respect whatever for the beautiful expres- 
sion of any other idea than his own, and none for that, 
for it had none. He usually wore black or gray with 
trunk hose, a scarf around his waist, long top-boots and 
a gray hat. We notice, however, with regret, that he 
always preferred velvet to cloth. 

Worldly tastes of the old days lingered, however, for 
one of the courtiers complains bitterly that since 
Cromwell came, the costumes are entirely despoiled of 
puffings, slashings, ribbands, and jewels. He might find 
comfort, though, in remembering that the matter of 
costume was not the only one in which the Lord Pro- 
tector indulged in indiscriminate spoliation. One 
courtier persisted and wore a buff very highly orna- 
mented coat with silver trimmings, slashed sleeves 
stuffed with satin, trunk hose trimmed with lace, and 
russet boots, a costly lace collar and a sash of gold lace. 
Thus did the vanity of man survive even the mandates 
of Puritanism. 

A portrait of a lady, done in 1652, shows the hair 
combed flat, braided in the back and fastened with a 
knot. Her neck is covered with a richly ornamented 
handkerchief with deep lace, and her cuffs are of the 
same. She has slashed sleeves and a large fan. The 
affectation of a modest and simple humility was, how- 
ever, the general rule, and right becoming it was to 
many a person no doubt, as it had been to a limited few 
in periods before, and has been in later epochs in the 
march of human development. 

Again the pendulum swung as Charles II returned to 
England in 1660. From this date to his death in 1685, 

183 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

and really to the flight of James II in 1688 (which period 
may also be discussed in general terms with that of 
Charles II), the climax of French influence was reached, 
a complete surrender to fashion took place and the 
extravagance of the country was more excessive than at 
any other time. This leaves but one decade of the 
seventeenth century yet unexpressed. 

If the costumes of the period called Charles I were 
French styles filtered through English mind and ex- 
pressed in gorgeous fashion quite un-English, those of 
Charles II certainly were no less French, but the 
British mind had become appreciably less dominant. 
One's conception of the period is stretched to the 
very point of the grotesque, as one tries in vain to 
comprehend the relation between the type of human 
being clothed, and the clothes that were hung upon it. 
Particularly is this true of the gentleman of that time. 

As early as 1658 the *' petticoat breeches," already the 
vogue at Versailles, crossed the Channel and invaded the 
realm of Cromwellianism, which was still floundering in 
the aftermath of the French fashions of Charles I and 
his court. This garment, it is said, was not so far 
removed from the Scotch kilts of our day and genera- 
tion, and therefore of course was '* picturesque and 
perfectly reasonable," but, as a contemporary writer 
remarks, when they began to ornament them heavily 
with ribbands up to the pockets and around the waist, 
wearing a ruflOied under petticoat with the lace hanging 
down below, and the shirt hanging over the outside of 
this, it was too much for the stolid and well mannered 
English to bear even when worn by one of the ''Ex- 
quisites," a by-product of about 1670. It is only fair 
184 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

to say at this point that the fashion disappeared before 
the close of the reign, and even Charles is described as 
wearing a suit all of one colour except the waistcoat, and 
with scarcely any lace. This was after the "'Self- 
denial" period of Mme. de Maintenon was inaugurated 
at Versailles, however, which no doubt somewhat in- 
fluenced the impressionable Charles and his satellites. 

A contemporary historian tells us the "Noblemen, 
gentlemen, learned divines, military heroes, grave 
judges and elderly lawyers all followed eagerly in the 
steps of fashion." Lady Fanshaw thus describes the 
costume of her husband, who was ambassador and was 
received in audience by Philip IV of Spain: "Then 
came my husband in a very rich suit of clothes of a dark 
phillamot brocade, laced with silver and gold lace, nine 
laces, every one as broad as my hand, and a little silver 
and gold lace laid between them, both of very curious 
workmanship. His suit was trimmed with scarlet 
taffeta ribbands; his stockings of white silk, upon long 
scarlet silk ones; his shoes black, with scarlet shoe- 
strings, and garters. His linen very fine, laced with 
rich Flanders' lace. A black beaver buttoned on the 
left side, with a jewel of 1200 1. value. A rich, upright, 
curious gold chain, made at the Indies, at which hung 
the king his master's picture, richly set with diamonds, 
and cost 300 1., which his majesty in his grace and favour 
had been pleased to give him on his coming from 
Portugal. On his fingers he wore two rich rings. His 
gloves were trimmed with the same ribbands as his 
clothes, and his family were richly clothed, according to 
their several qualities." 

Pepys' diary, however, describes a coat of the same 

185 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

time as quite like those of our day, and he speaks of a 
suit of clothes all of one material. This seems to be a 
decided reaction from the accepted mode. "Paint 
and powder were supreme," writes a critic, and "noth- 
ing is really fashionable unless it comes from France." 
Another writer declared that "we are so much addicted 
to strange apparel that there is scarcely anything Eng- 
lish about us." This man seems to have struck the 
nail practically on the head. Not only was there not 
anything English in the fashions, the materials, or 
their uses, but there was no strictly English sense or 
feeling in their adoption or exploitation of these things, 
and herein lies the psychological interest in the phe- 
nomenon. 

The same writer goes on to say: "And how much 
girdles, gorgets, wimples, cauls, crispings, pins, veils, 
rails, frontlets, bonnets, bracelets, necklaces, slops, slip- 
pers, round-tires, sweet-balls, rings, earrings, mufflers, 
glasses, hoods, lawn, musks, civets, rose-powders, 
gessamy butter, complexion waters, do cost in our days 
many a sighing husband doth know by the year's ac- 
count," which sensation evidently doth reappear from 
time to time unto this day. 

Many gowns at this time began to resemble draperies 
and were worn very low over the shoulders and in front, 
with slashed sleeves and plenty of jewels. The head 
was trimmed with ribbands, jewel bands, and a long 
curled lock of hair called a "heart-breaker." Consider 
if you please this "heart-breaker" and the "love-lock" 
of the gentlemen, and an odd impression results. 

Doublets of gold and silver tissue, robes of blue and 
crimson interwoven with gold or silver and ornamented 
186 




LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. THE TRANSITION TO THE FIRST 
OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY STYLES IS WELL GIVEN IN MATERIAL, 
CUT, AND LACK OF HEAVY ORNAMENTATION. 




NEAR THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. THE 
TRANSITION IS CLEARLY MADE HERE TO CLOTHES DESIGNED FOR 
THE HUMAN FIGURE, WITH A DECORATIVE SENSE. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

in gold patterns, long mantles of richest silk adorned 
with precious stones and caps of velvet with heavy flung 
plumes are often mentioned as belonging to the general 
dress of the nobles in this age of splendid show. After a 
time the gentlemen and ladies both so completely out- 
stripped the fashionable Charles at his own game that 
he made a solemn and public declaration of what he 
himself would wear in the future, thinking thus no doubt 
to curb in some measure the headlong extravagance of 
his people. Let us see what Evelyn says in his diary 
of the king's good resolution in standardizing his 
clothes : 

"1666, October 18th.— To court. It being the first 
time his majesty put himself solemnly into the Eastern 
fashion of vest, after the Persian mode, with girdle and 
straps, and shoe-strings and garters into bouckles, of 
which some were set with precious stones, resolving 
never to alter it, and to leave the French mode, which 
had hitherto obtained to our great expense and re- 
proach. Upon which divers courtiers and gentlemen 
gave his majesty gold, by way of wager, that he would 
not persist in this resolution." It is not recorded that 
he was altogether successful until the English fashion of 
''preserving an outward appearance of restraint" in 
material show began to take effect, then its spirit was 
caught somewhat, as other fashions were. Very soon, 
however, a new influence was injected into the situation 
under the reign of William and Mary, when another 
combination of causes produced different results. 

Under James II there were detailed changes of ex- 
pression but little change in mental attitude, and thus 
the Stuart line went out, with a record for lack of cul- 

187 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

ture as expressed in classicism, but an admiration for 
the material things of life expressed in terms of fashion, 
frivolity, and splendour as un-British as it was unprofit- 
able to a conception of well rounded national develop- 
ment, but no more materialistic, though about as much 
so, as the ideals and expression of Italy, France, and 
most of the lesser European states. 

Following the flight of James and his queen, Mary of 
Modena, to the French court, came the arrival in 1688 
of William of Orange with his wife Mary, who was the 
daughter of James. He was crowned king of England 
in 1689. This brief reign, to 1702, with that of Queen 
Anne, sister of Mary (1702 to 1714) comprises the 
period of Dutch influence in England, which marked 
also the beginning of modern English life. 

It seems that in this period there was in general a 
continuance of the fashions of the time of Charles II 
with some few "Dutch peculiarities" and slight addi- 
tions in matters of detail. The very high head-dress 
which came into style in 1696 had reached such an 
excess and had become so universally worn that the 
church began a concerted campaign against it. A 
preacher by the name of John Edwards thus delivered 
himself in a sermon against the sin of pride: 

'*This is the pride which reigns amongst our very 
ordinary women of this day, they think themselves 
highly advanced by this climbing foretop. All their 
rigging is nothing worth without this wagging topsail; 
and in defiance of our Saviour's words, they endeavour, 
as it were, to add a cubit to their stature. With their 
exalted heads they do, as it were, attempt a superiority 
over mankind; nay, their Babel builders seem, with 
188 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

their lofty towers, to threaten the skies and even to defy 
heaven itself." 

Another preacher in evident despair observes: 

"Women in all ages have taken more pains than men 
to adorn the outside of their heads; and indeed I very 
much admire that those female architects, who raise 
such wonderful structures out of ribbands, lace, and wire, 
have not been recorded for their respective inventions. 
It is certain there has been as many orders in these 
kinds of building, as in those which have been made of 
marble. Sometimes they rise in the shape of a pyra- 
mid, sometimes like a tower, and sometimes like a 
steeple." 

Hoops also had such a vogue that a contemporary 
observes that if men should adopt the old-fashioned 
trunk hose a man and his wife would fill any one single 
pew in church. The following amusing account of the 
hoop craze is taken from the ''Spectator": 

"Since your withdrawing from this place, the fair sex 
are run into great extravagancies. Their petticoats, 
which began to heave and swell before you left us, are 
now blown up into a most enormous concave, and rise 
every day more and more. In short, sir, since our 
women know themselves to be out of the eye of the 
Spectator, they will be kept within no compass. You 
praised them a little too soon for the modesty of their 
head-dresses; for as the humour of a sick person is often 
driven out of one limb into another, their superfluity of 
ornaments, instead of being entirely banished, seem 
only fallen from their heads upon their parts. What 
they have lost in height they make up in breadth, 
and contrary to all rules of architecture widen the 

189 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

foundations at the same time they shorten the super- 
structure." 

Styles in petticoats were censured as indeed were 
shoes, gloves, and ''too many curly locks." In fact, by 
1714 when the death of Anne took place, an era was 
begun lacking originality, in complete slavery to 
fashion, and devoted to imitation of foreign costumes. 
There was also a revolt going on in the English mind 
against accepting a crystallized monarchic dictation in 
any of the social arts, for absolute dictation from the 
court as a principle, had already run its course in Eng- 
land. 

In France it lingered a whole century, as we shall see, 
but individualism was born in England and its growth 
and general acceptance in matters of art was remark- 
able. 

We have dwelt at great length upon the different 
manifestations of fashion in England during the seven- 
teenth century, perhaps at too great length, yet even 
though this book is not a history of fashion, it is a 
discussion of some different period ideals, expressed in 
different countries under different circumstances, a fact 
which justifies in some measure this treatment. At no 
time in her history has Britain given us so good a 
chance to observe how she gradually but completely 
submitted her perfectly regulated mind to the influ- 
ences of fashion, and to foreign ones at that. In this, 
her seventeenth century is unique. Louis XIV died 
in 1715, Queen Anne in 1714. Venice had by this time, 
exhausted herself in Baroque splendour and, panting 
for breath, was looking about for some sign by which 
she might seize upon new and untried emotional fields 
190 




THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH ELEGANCE, 
REFINEMENT, AND GRACE ARE HERE COMBINED WITH THE EARLY 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IDEAS OF COSTUME AS IT RELATES TO SOCIAL 
LIFE. 




EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. FRENCH. THE LUXURY OF THE 
LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IN MATERIALS AND THE AMPLITUDE 
OF CUT IS SHOWN HERE WITH THE EARLY LOUIS XV, FASHION IN 
HAIRDRESSING AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE NECK. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND 

in which to spend her last gasp of enthusiasm and 
creative instinct, before she finally resigned herself to 
the obscure and disastrous destiny which was rapidly 
coming upon her. 

France only had succeeded in developing a great 
institutional structure, an autocracy of state, religion, 
and social practices, so imposing, perfect and effective 
when seen from the outside only, that she easily com- 
manded not only the attention but the outward respect 
of all Christendom. Only the democratic forces of 
Puritanism and of republican politics were against her, 
and they were not powerful enough to make themselves 
felt much except in England and in the United States of 
America, or in the Colonies, as they were then called. It 
is, however, a sad commentary that even there the 
principles of liberty of thought and action and a strict 
adherence to modesty and humility in social life 
(which causes were devoutly espoused by the colonists), 
seemingly existed mostly in the minds rather than in the 
practices of the people, for we shall see in the next 
century how eagerly the good folks of the Colonies 
accepted their first opportunity to "serve God and 
Mammon" simultaneously in a burst of hallelujah at 
the privilege. 

Spain had fallen into decadence; her successes in the 
new world had spent themselves in gorgeous ostentation 
at home. Holland had begun to taste the exhilaration 
of commercial success abroad, and Italy was wasting in 
play and riotous living the little remaining strength she 
possessed, while the rest of Europe was still busy finding 
suitable materials and methods by which and through 
which to rise to material international prominence. 

191 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

At the end of the century two great social ideals 
presented themselves for eighteenth century solution. 
The cultured, amusing, and pleasure-loving autocracy of 
French social life, and the individual, democratic, com- 
mercial and domestic social life of England. Both 
nations had at the opening of the century at least one 
inheritance in common, namely, a century of national 
life committed to the ideal of materialistic ambition, 
with unbridled display in exploiting it; all this per- 
chance to the total neglect of many of the essentials of 
national development. 



192 



CHAPTER FIVE 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN FRANCE 
AND ITALY 



IT WAS the particular function of the eighteenth 
century to develop the institution of social life to its 
highest possibilities. Power and pleasure through 
cultured interests, subtle characteristics, and personal 
charm were the avowed aims of society's autocrats at 
the beginning of this epoch; and we shall see how and 
when the sense of individualism broke the autocratic 
spell and extended its influence to the middle classes, 
and with what results. In realizing its aims the century 
was successful, and France was still the most important 
field for the development and spread of this eighteenth 
century type of social idealism. 

We recall also that France offered the principal 
theatre for the staging of medisevalism, although its 
primary element, Christianity, was of foreign origin. 
It took the institution of Chivalry, as France conceived 
it, however, to lay the foundation for what finally 
developed into social criteria for all Christendom. The 
incorporation of this with the early spiritual ideal was 
the first great step in the movement which, by the end of 
the sixteenth century, had led the consciousness of civil- 
ized Europe far afield in the paths of pure materialism 
by making both spirit and body contribute to the ideal. 

193 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Italy, never wholly accepting the French conception 
of medisevalism, was, even in the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries, being slowly brought to a state of conscious- 
ness fitted for the birth of a new ideal. During the 
fourteenth century it came into being. This was the 
Renaissance. Around this wonderful ideal of culture a 
new social order grew up, a new phase of life was to be 
expressed, and in Italy its conception entered into the 
lives of the people and was externalized in a perfection 
very difficult to realize in these commercial, material- 
istic, and practical days. 

Adopted by other countries in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, exploited from every possible 
angle, exhausted and depleted, its ideals no longer 
capable of functioning, it was calmly laid away and the 
new world, grown to greater stature, conscious of more 
of its powers, desires, and possibilities, embarked upon a 
century of experience in which social life (somewhat 
extended to the middle and bourgeois classes) was the 
avowed object of existence, with the spiritual ideal of 
mediaevalism, the cultural ideals of the Renaissance and 
the material hypocrisy of the tenth century, shadows 
only, or memories, calculated it is true to influence, but 
in no sense to dominate the mental urge of this new 
century. 

France again became the theatre of development and 
the main source whence sprung the inspiration for 
the refinements of social intercourse. Italy, the home 
of the ancients and of the Renaissance, made her 
contribution of culture both to France and England. 
England worked out the practical amenities in social 
setting, and the new world furnished much of the 
194 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

material through which the work of this century was 
accomphshed. 

Louis XIV died in 1715 after a reign of seventy-two 
years. His death was welcomed with a real sense of 
relief and enthusiasm, not only by the court but by the 
nation at large. The poor attributed their poverty 
to his extravagance; the court felt that their emancipa- 
tion from the restraints imposed by the King and Mme. 
de Maintenon had been accomplished, and that they were 
at liberty at last to give unbridled expression to their 
wild passion for amusement and sensual enjoyment. 
They craved excitement. Their senses clamoured for 
stimulation, and the pendulum swung to complete 
abandon to the gratification of their desires with an un- 
blushing frankness that beggars description. 

During the long reign of Louis XIV social life had, in 
spite of the autocracy of the court, made wonderful 
gains in the intelligence of its conceptions. This was 
due for the most part to the influence of the great minds 
of the men and women who lived at that time and 
extended their influence through writing, or contributed 
in other ways to the general knowledge and culture of 
the century. Prominent among these we must recall 
here such names as Corneille, Racine, and Moliere; La 
Fontaine, Boileau, and Rousseau; Voiture, Balsac, and 
Madame de Sevigne, beside-s Lenotre, Mansard, and 
other architects and artists, each of whom had no 
small part both in directing thought, and in creating in 
all fields to give these thoughts expression. 

Louis XV, the great grandson of the old king, was 
five years old when called to the throne, and the 
Regency was vested in Philippe, Duke of Orleans, 

195 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

nephew of Louis XIV. With his personal scandals and 
those of the court we have no special concern here, since 
by comparison with what was to come they may be 
seen merely as a prologue. It is therefore sufficient for 
our purpose to class the whole period from 1715 to 1774 
as the period of Louis XV, and to trace in it the develop- 
ment of a new style, perhaps the most surprising as well 
as the most unique, in all history. 

In calling up a picture of this entirely social period 
it is necessary to think in terms of ideals first. The 
theory of the ancients had been debased in actual 
practice, becoming merely an excuse for supreme appe- 
tite satisfaction, in which refinement of manner replaced 
the spirit of the original idea. The theory of mediaeval- 
ism was forgotten in proportion to the extent to which 
materialism of any kind had been associated with 
spiritual longings. The process of displacement in 
France was practically complete; ethical standards were 
changed, the old moral standards were gone, and 
agnosticism in religion was no more fashionable nor 
universal than was contempt for the old ethical and 
moral order. 

This left two possible impulses to be stimulated, and 
two ends only for which to live. The one, cultivation 
of the wits or bringing the intellect to its highest point 
of development so that sensation and indulgence in 
mental combat became a life interest; the other, the 
cultivation of the five physical appetites to their highest 
degree of efficiency, in the meantime bending every 
energy toward the creation of means by which to satisfy 
these appetites, and all with charm of manner and 
perfect abandon. "The art of conversation was held 
196 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

above all other accomplishments," and we are told that 
''manners, were essential, morals optional." We are not 
disposed to question the truth of this assertion from 
any documentary or other evidence obtainable. In the 
second aim society was, if anything, more successful 
than in the first, and in this fact lies the key to the 
atmosphere of the social life of this period, therefore to 
the quality of the costumes and other settings for this 
peculiarly brilliant and fascinating if profligate and 
extravagant manifestation. 

The court, with these accepted and avowed ideals, 
was the social centre from which emanated costumes, 
manners, and fashions which practically controlled 
social life for the greater part of the eighteenth century, 
not only in France, but throughout the civilized world. 
So far as the general art expression of the period is con- 
cerned it may be called the legacy (twice removed) of 
the Baroque style in Italy, of which Bernini may be said 
to be the father. By him it was imported into France 
in the days of the Grande Monarque. 

This style, which flourished in the seventeenth 
century in Italy, exhausting itseK in effulgent and 
grotesque demonstration there, by 1700 was tempered in 
a remarkable degree in France by a strong classic bias, 
particularly in architecture. 

The great palaces, and even the churches built in the 
reign of Louis XIV, are remarkable for the classic ideas 
which they embody. Even the most elaborate and 
ornate decorative material, generally sustained by 
classic mouldings, was otherwise held in the composed 
space in such a manner as to suggest control. This 
mixed idea of Baroque grandeur and classic formality 

197 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Is exactly what saved the art of the period from gorgeous 
and blatant tawdriness. 

In furniture and clothes more of the Baroque 
and less of classic restraint is felt. The element of 
formality, so important in court etiquette, no doubt, 
partly explains the French Baroque style, since the 
mind determines the externalized quality. 

With the passing of this, and the abandonment of all 
restraint and of all pretence of propriety or even de- 
cency, respect for and even understanding of the 
classic ideal, or its manifestation in decoration, was 
removed. 

One of the strangest phenomena of history is that 
shown in this period by the architects of France who were 
committed to the interpretation of classic ideals solely, 
in their work, and at the same time manifested a total 
abandonment of all classic motifs in the decorative arts 
and in designs for social costumes. 

Out of the Baroque style of Louis XIV grew a system 
of decoration known as Rocaille, the forms of which 
were variations of the shell motif, so common in the 
previous period. This rocaille, contorted, distorted and 
twisted, formed the basis for the strange but sometimes 
remarkable beauty of the decorations of this period, the 
counterpart of which has never been seen, and the 
emotional aesthetic possibility of which seems only to 
have been equalled by the Gothic fancies of the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries, the latter of course a spiritual 
conception and the former simply carnal. The purely 
sesthetic, or in common parlance, artistic, quality of 
these two examples sometimes seems very similar, 
while the spirit and material of the two periods in 
198 




THIS ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE SAME PERIOD FURTHER DE- 
VELOPED. THE STRICTLY LOUIS XV MATERIAL, THE TRIMMINGS 
OF THE SAME STUFF ARRANGED IN HALF ROCAILLE MOVEMENT, 
AND THE CUT, ARE ALL DISTINCTLY CHARACTERISTIC. THE UPPER 
PART OF THE WAIST IS EVIDENTLY OF LATER ORIGIN. 




THIS PORTRAIT OF THE POMPADOUR EXPRESSES IN MATERIAL, CUT, 
AND DETAIL, THE SANEST, MOST ELEGANT, AND MOST DISTINC- 
TIVELY CHARMING PHASE OF THE STYLE. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

art expression are entirely different. This anomaly 
is a very interesting field for psychological specula- 
tion. 

The theatric formalism of the former period in social 
life being removed, society reacted not only in its ideals 
and customs, but also in its conception of the home and 
its relation to social intercourse. In the older period 
personal parade was the ideal, hence the large, for- 
mal and public appearance of all the rooms as well as 
the decorations and furnishings. The new ideal of 
privacy and intimate personal intercourse made smaller 
rooms necessary, more of them, and each one so ar- 
ranged as to be capable of private use. This completely 
revolutionized the room plans of the house as well as the 
palace. The effect on the wardrobe was analogous. A 
greater variety of clothes, some for public, others for 
semi-public or private use was essential. This relaxed 
the pressure for splendid display, and liberated creative 
genius to work for greater charm, more human, and 
therefore more becoming effects, thereby advancing the 
art of dress to another plane, in harmony with the ideals 
that were to dominate eighteenth century develop- 
ment. Thus another element was bequeathed to us, 
helping us in a measure to understand the point of view 
of the twentieth century, which is but the composite of 
all that has gone before. 

The court of Louis XIV not only was the centre, but 
practically defined the limit of ideas which controlled 
the customs of French social life during the greater part 
of the seventeenth century. The aristocracy obeyed its 
mandates without question; the bourgeoisie followed 
when permitted, and as they were able. The masses 

199 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

had no time, money, nor opportunity to think in terms 
of social Hfe. 

During the reign of Louis XV the court was no less 
the centre from which social France took its cue but it 
was, particularly after the first half century, by no 
means the limit of ideas and fashions, or of original 
customs and habits. ''Divine Right" dies hard, and 
traditions and old practices were perhaps subconsciously 
effective after disbelief and even open rebellion were 
rife everywhere outside of Versailles. This explains in 
part the somewhat individual development, the social 
charm, and the worth of inventions made during this 
period. Though it was a period of complete aristocratic 
domination, creating a class living on the labours of other 
classes, yet it was left for this period to develop the finer 
social amenities by virtue of this very class distinction. 

The queen, Marie Leckzinski, was spoken of as a ''good 
woman and not too uncomely," which seems encourag- 
ing, although she played little or no part in establishing 
a standard of social life. So far as the morality of the 
court is concerned it matters little here, except that the 
fickleness of the king brought into prominence a number 
of women, each in her turn serving as his mistress and 
each having a large share in the dictation of manners 
and styles. 

The most charming of these was doubtless the 
Duchesse de Chateauroux, the most important Madame 
de Pompadour, and the most astonishing Madame du 
Barry. The historian. Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, thus 
describes court manners in speaking of these women: 
"The manners of the court, in this long reign, under- 
went three distinct phases. In the early part of the 
200 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

reign, when the passions of the king were under some 
restraint, there was a sUght shew of decorum preserved 
in his presence, but the style of conversation was coarse 
and blunt. 

"The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau brought into 
fashion an hypocritical cant and mock modesty. 
Virtue was universally extolled; decomm was paraded; 
everyone professed to be enamoured of rigid morality 
and rustic innocence of life; but the love was scarcely 
skin deep; and those who praised them most, were 
living in the practice of all ungodliness. 

"Towards the close of the reign, under the auspices of 
Madame du Barry, all pretence to morality, religion, 
and decency, was given up. An air of dissolute frivolity, 
a care-for-nobody swagger, and mocking supercilious- 
ness, were the airs affected by the great." And he has 
this to say of the various mistresses: "She was suc- 
ceeded [speaking of Mme. de Chateauroux] in the post 
of royal favourite, by Madame de Pompadour, the 
daughter of a butcher, and wife of a wealthy farmer-of- 
taxes, whom she abandoned for the king. Graceful 
and beautiful, animated and accomplished, Madame 
de Pompadour directed all her powers to amuse and 
please the king, but selfishness and ambition were the 
springs of her actions. . . . She named bishops 
and generals, as well as ministers, judges, and am- 
bassadors, but her choice was almost uniformly unfortun- 
ate. Voltaire sang her praises; Maria Theresa of 
Austria disdained not to flatter her; and all who hoped 
for promotion bowed down before her. 

"In the court, the old noblesse were cast into the 
shade by a new moneyed aristocracy sprung from the 

201 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

middle classes. Bad taste and frivolity characterize 
the period. Women of position amused themselves by 
breaking plates and glasses; and men, by embroidery or 
card painting. Even magistrates on their benches, and 
grave officials, might be seen pulling the string of some 
dancing figure, called a patin. ... 

"Louis XV was getting old when Madame de Pompa- 
dour died. All the handsome and unprincipled court 
ladies strove by their blandishments to become her 
successor but a common courtesan, Madame du Barry, 
the daughter of a gatekeeper at one of the Paris barriers, 
was preferred to the disgraceful honour. . . . 

''Madame du Barry was a voluptuous beauty, all 
dimples. Her skin fair, mouth small and rosy, eyes 
sparkling and languishing, hair a light chestnut colour 
and admirably curled. At the death of the king, she 
retired from Court and lived unknown till the Revolu- 
tion, when she was guillotined for aiding the escape of 
emigrants." 

Authorities disagree in some particulars with this 
severe and reverend historian, but in the main his 
views are apparently shared by people in general. 

Paris and Versailles were the France of Louis XV and 
his court, and because of their excesses in habits and in 
fashions the whole period is undoubtedly too severely 
criticized by some. We find various critics railing at 
the "tawdry fashions," the "unblushing immorality," 
the "bad taste of over-dress, endless rouge," and the 
"audacity of expense," but all these are too familiar 
assertions concerning other and earlier periods to im- 
press us very deeply, for after all everything is relative, 
and people are still railing. 
202 




BY THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE FREE- 
DOM IN INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION. ATTENTION IS DIRECTED 
TO THE OCCULT BALANCE IN CUT AND ARRANGEMENT WHICH IS 
STRICTLY IN ACCORD WITH THE DECORATIVE TASTE EVOLVED AT 
THIS TIME. 




EARLY IN THE LAST QUARTER OF THE CENTURY (tHE PERIOD OF 
LOUIS XVl) EXTRAVAGANCE IN MATERIAL, STYLE, AND ORNA- 
MENTATION r|:ached its climax, in this the queen led. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

Outside of Paris and Versailles quantities of the most 
delightful provincial furniture and decorative objects 
were made, and doubtless the exquisite follies of the 
court in dress were so modified elsewhere as to take 
their place among the art treasures of historic costumes, 
as indeed were some of the follies themselves. 

There are so many of these beautiful things to be 
found in museums and private collections and so many 
illustrations in documentary form are obtainable that it 
seems unnecessary, perhaps superfluous, to speak of 
costumes individually or in detail. We cannot refrain, 
however, from recalling the delicious brocades, the 
exquisite taffetas, the priceless laces, and the countless 
little toilet accessories, so rare and so alluring as to 
leave us doubting whether ever before there was so 
enchanting an exterior effect coming from so bewilder- 
ing a set of unbelievable causes. 

It was in this period, too, that sensuous refinement in 
colour reached its climax; hues, values, and intensities 
were so subtle, fascinating, and harmonious, yet so 
varied and illusive. 

In no form of expression, not even in that of orna- 
ment, did there seem to be a trace discernible of the 
classic qualities of simplicity and restraint, so com- 
pletely luscious and sensuous did the colour become. 

During the last few years of Louis XV the classic 
reaction had taken so strong a hold that its effect on 
architecture was complete. Furniture and the decora- 
tive arts responded slowly, while fashion, catering as 
she always has to the most sensitive and insatiable of 
human desires, was very slow to yield to classic influ- 
ence. In fact, in the next reign the interpretation 

203 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

would indicate that no part of the classic spirit was 
ever really sensed by the makers of fashion in clothes, 
as it was sensed in painting, architecture, furniture, and 
the lesser decorative fields. This is not strange when we 
remember how flippant, keen, and material the French 
mind was at this time and how strong must have been 
the urge not only for a new sensation, but for a peculiar 
one. Admitting this, we see unmistakable signs in the 
last decade of this period that lighter colour values, 
clearer and less subtle intensities, and a simpler hue 
spectrum were beginning to make their appeal. 

While in the field of design fabrics were a little less 
richly conceived, plain and striped taffetas came in. 
Cherubs and flowers seemed a little less determined 
to appear ripe and full grown, while some of the gowns 
were freer from decorative idiosyncrasies and the en- 
cumbrance of enormous hoops. Some of the great 
ladies showed a delightful simplicity in dressing their 
hair, when compared with the previous fashion or with 
the prevailing mode of the next reign. 

Actually the dictation of fashions in the period of 
Louis XV was wholly in the hands of women and the 
motto of their creation was evidently ''all for pleasure." 

During the Regency dress was light in material; gowns 
were cut with a basque and pagoda sleeves. They 
were also much trimmed with ribbon bows. In 1718 
paniers were worn and very soon their circumference 
reached eighteen feet. While the ladies themselves 
seemed to like these, the clergy and the satirists opened 
war on them. Books were written, sermons preached, 
and plays performed, all given over to the idea that 
nothing but discomfort and physical disfigurement, to 
204 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

say nothing of waste and extravagance, could be seen 
in this **most disgusting of all foreign and imported 
fashions." 

Ridicule and religious contumely, however, were as 
powerless as the sumptuary laws of old had been, and 
the panier persisted as a distinguishing feature of this 
period until well past the middle of the century. 

About 1730 the *'Robe Volante," a loose dress with- 
out a belt, also came into fashion. This piece was gen- 
erally of silk, white or rose, and was worn mostly by 
young girls who also wore silk gauze frocks over col- 
oured silk slips. Women wore the smallest possible 
shoes and carried parasols. 

Among the accessories of dress may be mentioned 
necklaces, bags, eyeglasses mounted in gold or enamel, 
needlecases and crosses of gold. The hair was powdered 
and the face painted in red and white, the paint being 
often so thick as to form a perfect crust over the face. 
Patches and paint were employed, it is said, even in the 
last toilet for the tomb, and when this occasioned re- 
monstrance patches appeared in greater numbers 
"seeming to glory in their triumph over every oppo- 
sition." 

For a short period, about 1730, the fashion of exceed- 
ingly high head-dresses prevailed. Lady Mary Mon- 
tague, who visited Paris about this time, says of the 
ladies: '* Their woolly white hair and fiery faces make 
them look more like skinned sheep than human beings." 

About 1760 much simpler gowns appeared, hair was 
more plainly dressed, but corsets would persist not- 
withstanding the efforts of the doctors and critics to 
displace them. Up to the very end of the reign, how- 

205 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

ever, the Pompadour and du Barry, together with their 
satelUtes, who either aspired to positions in the king's 
favour, and through this to social prestige, or had other 
favours to ask, remained absohitely true to the arti- 
ficial and superficial in all things. The sort of refined 
harem-art of house and toilet that hypnotized all Eu- 
rope then, has by no means lost its grip even on some 
very respectable ladies of our day, who persist in believ- 
ing that even now the flippant art snobbery of the 
king's mistress in home and clothes is a true expression 
of the modern lady. Unhappily they (most of them) 
haven't the refinement, the taste, or the power of a 
Pompadour, nor are there artists who can or will pander 
to their whims, and besides, the antique dealer and the 
costumer are merciless, with no fear of the wrath of a 
king. This is perhaps a sad conclusion but it is self- 
evident even though disappointing to those who would 
see their time as one of a great social taste revival, to 
equal which one enthusiast writes, "no period since the 
Renaissance could aspire." 

This period like all others is but a recital of increasing 
desires for novelty on the part of the people, and of new 
and wonderful creations of fashion to satisfy every one 
of these desires. It shows also, even in its utter aban- 
don in the matter of moral and ethical standards, the 
same disposition to prate on the part of the church and 
the moralists against some special indulgence in fash- 
ion's whim, with the same result of increasing a demand 
for the pet sin, in direct ratio to the opposition given It, 
and the invention of others more unacceptable than the 
first. 

In 1774, after a sixty year reign of incredible abandon 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

to sense gratification, and a corresponding inattention 
to matters of state and of international development, 
Louis XV died of smallpox, unlamented and almost un- 
noticed. A tribute, however, should be rendered to 
his memory for his good sense in retaining Gabriel to 
build the little Trianon. This was constructed for 
one of his courtesans, though he gave it to Marie An- 
toinette as a private dwelling when she married his 
grandson, who afterward became Louis XVI. The 
classic and simple charm of this little palace, with the 
restricted and informal social practices which it en- 
tailed, no doubt influenced to a considerable degree the 
social ideals which developed during the reign that fol- 
lowed. 

Louis XVI, who was twenty years old, amiable, ir- 
resolute, of "unblemished character/' and wholly un- 
interested in any form of social life, was destined to pay 
the penalty after eighteen years for all the oppression, 
extravagance, and debauchery of the two previous cen- 
turies. So far as his own influence on social life was 
concerned it was nil. His young queen, the Austrian 
Marie Antoinette, made her full contribution, however, 
partly because there were no mistresses in this reign to 
dictate court life (and the court must have a leader), 
and partly because she, in her somewhat dual nature, 
was personally fitted to make such contribution. Either 
through shrewdness, inclination, or a yielding to the 
sweep of the tide, she encouraged the new attitude to 
the classic revival. This greatly increased admiration 
for Greek ideas, practices, and forms, and was the 
means of inspiring artists to create with these qualities 
in mind. 

207 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

In the second place she was above all things else 
frivolous and pleasure loving, and, it seems to us, some- 
what sentimental and affected, particularly in the first 
ten years of the reign. These characteristics were in- 
dicated in the natural flowers, the love birds, bow-knots, 
hearts and arrows, cupids, cornucopias, and other mo- 
tifs that soon found their way into the decorations; 
many of them also were used in the textiles. This queer 
mixture of miniature play -classicism with sentimental 
girlish realism or naturalism was the foundation for the 
art of the period of Louis XVI, particularly at court, or 
wherever the court influence was at all pronounced. 

Because of the court opposition to du Barry and her 
brood of charlatans at the palace, Marie Antoinette 
had, before the death of Louis XV in 1774, begun to be 
considered almost the sole criterion of fashion in dress. 
After her accession her sway became absolute so far 
as any one element could reach the disturbed mental 
state of France. An instance of how quickly her ideas 
were taken up and copied is found in the following an- 
necdote taken from a history of French fashion: '*One 
day, in 1775, the new queen took up from her dressing- 
table two peacock feathers, and placed them with sev- 
eral little ostrich plumes in her hair. Louis XVI came 
in and greatly admired his wife, saying he had never 
seen her look so well. Almost immediately feathers 
came into fashion, not in France only, but throughout 
Europe. But when, shortly afterward, Marie Antoin- 
ette sent a portrait of herself, wearing large feathers as 
a head-dress, to her mother, the Empress Maria Theresa 
returned it. 'There has been, no doubt, some mistake,' 
wrote Maria Theresa; 'I received the portrait of an ae- 
208 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 
tress, not that of a queen; I am expecting the right 



one.'" 



This inordinate tendency to make the head ridiculous 
is one of the most pecuhar of all the queer fashions of 
this brief but hectic reign. In 1778 the queen herself 
invented what was known as the "hedge-hog" style of 
hair dressing. This huge mass of frizzled hair tied 
on with ribbons, and its successor called the ''half 
hedge-hog," lasted for several years, by which time the 
invention of new and stranger, forms became a mania 
with the queen and her devoted followers. Such terms 
as ''Spaniel's ears," "forest," "enamelled meadows," 
"butterfly," "milk-sop," "commode," "cabriolet," and 
"mad-dog" were given these grotesque inventions, and 
flowers, fruits, wires, ribbons and other materials were 
freely used in building the structure which was often 
left for days without rearrangement. 

This is apparently an instance of fashion's vagaries 
where it is more satisfactory to accept the fact, without 
requiring the imagination to picture its results. 

"The scaffolding of gauze, flowers, and feathers was 
raised to such a height that no carriages could be found 
lofty enough for ladies' use. The occupants were 
obliged either to put their heads out of the windows, or 
to kneel on the carriage floor, so as to protect the fragile 
structures." The police chief of Paris wrote the man- 
ager of a theatre that there were constant complaints of 
huge head-dresses, hats loaded with plumes, flowers, 
fruits, and ribbons built so high that they obstructed the 
view of those in the pit. We do not find it recorded 
that any great change took place in the size or quality 
of these headpieces, however. 

209 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Some high born ladies in Paris and elsewhere, with 
the mothers and husbands of young women of the no- 
bility, objected somewhat to these extremes in feathers 
and plumes, and tried to foster simpler fashions, with 
small success, but we read that at the birth of one of the 
little princes the queen cut her hair short, after which 
everybody adopted the ''baby head-dress" at once, 
sacrificing beautiful hair to fashion's dictates without a 
murmur. When Marie Antoinette conceived the idea 
of playing at farming or living the simple life, the great 
ladies all flew to imitate her so that they might appear 
with their hair "a la laitiere," in imitation of the 
queen. 

On one occasion, in 1775, the queen adopted a chest- 
nut brown colour for her gown. This colour pleased 
the king and it is written that every lady in court had 
on a dress of that colour the following day. This seems 
rather quick for universal adoption, even in our day 
of swift racing to ape the clothes and manners of some- 
one who has succeeded in hypnotizing the public into 
a belief in her superiority of some sort. 

Gowns trimmed with one material only were much 
used; straw-coloured satin was very popular. These 
dresses were trimmed in various ways, either with lace, 
gauze, or fur. There were numberless varieties of trim- 
ming, besides brocaded or painted satin, and each had a 
special name. The most fashionable tint for satin was 
either "stifled sigh" or "the lively shepherdess," the 
latter being apple-green with white stripes. 

Some of the names given to trimmings are curious^ 
such as "indiscreet complaints," "great reputation," 
"an unfulfilled wish," "the feeling," "the vapours," 
210 




THE PROMINENCE GIVEN TO DRESSING THE HAIR AND ONE OF THE 
QUEER BUT FLEETING FASHIONS IN WAISTS IS WELL ILLUSTRATED 
IN THIS PORTRAIT OF A DUCHESS. THIS FASHION MARKS THE 
CULMINATION OF THE ARTIFICIAL PERIOD. 




ABOUT 1775. FRENCH. THIS COSTUME IS A FRENCH INTERPRE- 
TATION IN THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI OF A PIEDMONTESE FASHION. 




MQREAU GIVES WONDERFULLY HERE NOT ONLY CHARMING COS- 
TUMES OF THIS TIME, BUT THE SPIRIT AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE 
MOST FASCINATIJfG SOCIAL PERIOD IN HISTORY. 




THE PART PLAYED SOCIALLY BY THE TOILET OF THE KING AND HIS 
COURTIERS IS ADMIRABLY REVEALED IN THE ACCOMPANYING IL- 
LUSTRATION. THE SPIRIT OF THE SETTING IS ALSO PERFECT. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

"preference," ** agitation," "the sweet smile," "re- 
grets," and many others. 

Paniers were generally small, but padded at the top. 
Shoes being embroidered in diamonds, women's feet 
might be compared to jewel-cases. Long narrow shoes, 
with the seam at the heel studded with emeralds, were 
called in the trade "come and see." 

Women wore over their shoulders an arrangement of 
lace, gauze, or blond, closely gathered, which was called 
"Archduchesse," or "Medicis," or "collet monte." 
Tulle was in great demand, and was manufactured 
everywhere. 

As for ribbons, the most fashionable were called "a 
sign of hope," "attention," "a sunken eye," "an in- 
stant," "the sigh of Venice," and "a conviction." 
Sashes were worn "a la Praxitele" after an opera by 
Devismes. 

By 1780 the rural peasant idea was adopted by all 
Versailles. The costumes were a mixed peasant, dia- 
mond tiara, and ostrich feather combination amusing 
and ridiculous. Fashion in fact seemed as excited and 
unstable as was the political and social mind. 

From 1784 to 1786 (only two years) the fashion in 
hats, for instance, changed seventeen times. Every 
new play, each new pastoral idea at the Trianon, 
brought out a new fashion in hair, hats, or gowns, and 
these like the earlier fashions, took on the names of the 
players, the playwrights, the heathen gods or pastoral 
nymphs who happened to be featured. Hectic fancies 
and follies multiplied over night, and as a contemporary 
moralist observes: "I have indeed heard of women going 
without bread, but never without pins and feathers." 

211 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Such was the condition and arbitrary sway of fashion in 
1789 when the crash of the Revolution came and all was 
changed. 

At once everything became serious, even ominous. 
Arcadia with its little laughing fairy peoples, nymphs, 
and shepherdesses, its affected make-believes from classic 
lore, its brooks and trees and flowers that actually 
danced and played in harmony with the frivolous and 
hare-brained ladies and gentlemen of the court, all were 
silent. A great hush had fallen on the play of life in 
France while the pendulum swung to the other extreme 
of its arc once more. 

Women appeared in public with stern faces, clothed 
in great coats and black hats, carrying a cane or a whip 
in their hands. Their hats were like helmets. The 
more feminine of these women assumed the role of mid- 
dle-aged matrons, wearing long trailing gowns of. 
sombre hue, a dark cape, and a little cap. The cockade 
appeared everywhere. Gowns were simple, with the 
arms generally covered by tight sleeves. Caps, small 
and simple, trimmed with bows of ribbon, were popular. 
Somebonnets of straw appeared and^these were trimmed 
with naval or war trophies. Everyone, however, car- 
ried a fan and an embroidered handkerchief, simple and 
inoffensive relics of the past. 

Paint, powder, and patches went with the gods and 
goddesses; feathers and artificial fruits with the Ar- 
cadian dreamers, and by 1795 scarcely a trace of 
the semi-classic, semi-naturalistic, miniature style of 
Louis XVI remained, either in costumes or in any of the 
decorative and social arts. 

Each step of the Revolution was followed by its^ 
212 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

own peculiar response in fashion which expressed the 
dominant idea of the particular part of the convulsion 
which it represented. To annihilate not only the old 
monarchic ideas and practices, but every vestige of its 
externalized forms, was the aim of this period, and in 
no other one is a clearer psychological response of ma- 
terials to the power of ideas traceable, than in that of 
the French Revolution. Fashion responded as readily 
and as completely to human desires and instincts as 
they expressed themselves in this period, as they had 
in any other, and strange and wonderful were some of 
the things she did. 

With the passing of the "Terror" and the dawn of 
the *'Directoire" in 1795 a reaction to the styles of 
Louis XV seemed for a short time to be a possibility, 
so great was the relief when the intense strain of the 
preceding six years gave way. This revival of the 
fashions did not actually occur, however, though much 
of the charm, artistic quality, and simple richness did 
reappear, and the Directoire, one of the most fascin- 
ating of all French periods, was the outcome. This 
style in an adapted form should make a strong appeal 
under modern conditions. 

It is interesting, perhaps enlightening here, to see 
how an eminent Englishman, Henry Swinburne, Es- 
quire, who was in Paris much of the time between 1788 
and 1797, looked upon the excesses of the court in 
dress, and what he thought of conditions brought about 
by the Directoire after the Revolution. 

He says: "The extravagance of the French is scarcely 
credible and nothing in Europe ever equalled it, at 
least that I ever heard of. The trousseau of Mile, de 

213 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Mantignon who is going to marry the Baron de Mont- 
morency, is to cost a hundred thousand crowns. There 
are to be a hundred dozen of shifts, and so on in propor- 
tion. The expenses here of rigging out a bride is equal 
to a handsome fortune in England; five thousand 
pounds worth of lace, linen, and gowns is a common 
thing." 

He tells of the idiosyncrasies of the queen, among 
them of her withdrawal at a grand ball to play trictrac 
with someone in another part of the palace, of how she 
hated orange-colour and would receive none who had 
that colour on their persons, and how she was appar- 
ently more interested in the players than in her court 
ladies or gentlemen. 

Of a morning concert given in 1797 by one. Monsieur 
Senovert, he says: '*The company assembled at two. 
The men were clean, many in English dresses, but there 
were also a good many extravagants . . . that is, 
with their hair plaited and done up very tight behind, 
like an old-fashioned chignon, and in front two curls 
or tresses a foot long, just parted in the middle of 
the forehead and hanging down the cheeks upon the 
waistcoat. Two of them I remarked as being particu- 
larly ridiculous; one side only was in curls hanging 
down, the other drawn back with the hair behind. 

*'The women were all in wigs, generally as different 
as possible from the true colour of their hair: their 
faces almost totally obscured. Their caps and hats 
had much gold and velvet, and very small feathers; 
their waists were immoderately short, their faces 
daubed, their necks covered, their gowns muslin, with a 
profusion of gold spangles and gold fringes." Our day 
214 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

is evidently not the first period in which paint, feathers, 
gold and spangles found favour in the morning toilet, 
and the analogy between the type of persons addicted 
to such fashions is probably even closer than that of the 
practice. 

The classic Greek mania of 1796 brought out some 
costumes which were from one point of view grotesque 
— caricatures they seem to us — and the Anglo-mania of 
1797 was declared by a contemporary to be *' bourgeois 
to a frightful degree and in hideous bad taste." We 
agree, but it was in the adaptations of the classic that 
the height of the ridiculous was reached, yet simplicity 
and a certain amount of grace was attained in this 
way. 

This classic dress is described as a simple piece of 
linen, slightly laced before, leaving the waist loose and 
serving as a corset. If a robe was worn which was not 
left open in front, no petticoat was worn. When dressed 
for a ball those who danced commonly put on a tunic, 
and then a petticoat became a necessity but not a choice. 
Pockets were not used as they encumbered the person. 
A small purse concealed in the bosom held money, and 
also a gold watch, unless it was hung around the neck. 
A fan was stuck in the girdle. Simple silks, linens, and 
muslins were favourite materials, and over these light 
coloured or white gowns brilliant cashmere shawls were 
worn. 

Hair was cut short and wigs were used. Shoes were 
copied from the antique and gowns were as transparent 
as they were simple in cut. With the revival under the 
Directoire of a belief in taste, a respect for the classic, 
and a disposition to create anew, a good foundation was 

215 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

laid for the development of the Empire, the first and 
most important of all the nineteenth century styles. 

In the first half of the eighteenth century Italy was 
the scene of important European wars, which greatly 
affected the social life of the whole peninsula. The 
persistent aggression of Louis XIV on the west, the 
struggle of the papacy to retain international political 
power, the determination of Spain not to be driven 
from the scene of her established triumphs, and the ever 
increasing demands of Austria (which threatened to 
destroy any power that might become established), 
came to a head in 1714 when France and Austria made 
peace at Rastatt. By the terms of this peace Venice, 
surrounded by Austrian provinces, could never again 
assert her real independence as she had in the past. 
The papacy was not even asked to take part in the con- 
ference of peace and her claims were therefore ignored. 
Spain was allowed nominal rights in the south, but she 
had long since ceased to bully by aggressive action, 
and now such power as was left to her rapidly declined. 
Such cities as Florence, Parma, Piacenza, Modena and 
others were under Austrian domination, as indeed were 
Milan and Naples in reality. Savoy, whose cause had 
been espoused by England, alone remained virtually her 
own master. 

Austria, not Spain, now held the balance of power, 
and the history of the next half century is a record of her 
attempt to retain it, while France and Spain, each one 
alone, and acting together under ''family compact," 
attempted to gain the ascendency. 

The story of bargaining away princes and princesses, 
Bourbon, Austrian-Hapsburg, and Spanish-Hapsburg, 
216 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

with native Italian petty rulers is one of the most fas- 
cinating of intrigues; it seems also to explain the intro- 
duction into Italian states of the customs and practices 
of social life in foreign countries. France, however, 
with a better organized social regime, a more attractive 
and amusing manner of life and a more completely ex- 
pressed form of art and culture, made not only a 
stronger appeal but a more suitable one to the inde- 
structible art and pleasure sense of the Italian descend- 
ants of Ancient Rome and of the Renaissance. 

The Italians regarded the Spanish as civilized, well 
mannered persons, and although their political and so- 
cial domination was felt to be a disgrace, they accepted 
the social forms as a "graceful tyranny" well acted. 
On the oth^r hand the Austrians were called ''tipsy, 
uncivilized barbarians," and their manners and customs 
were not only resisted, but hated as vigorously as were 
the Austrians themselves. This attitude of mind had a 
very strong bearing on the almost universal acceptance 
socially of the manners, customs, and fashions of the 
French court throughout the whole century, and offers 
a brief explanation for the Italian expression in furni- 
ture and decorative arts of the periods of Louis XV and 
XVI, which are just now becoming a matter of world 
wide interest and quite the fashion (particularly in the 
United States of America and in England), among con- 
noisseurs of high rank. 

The second half of the century was more peaceful. 
New ideas of rehgion, philosophy, politics, and social 
life that developed in France were readily filtered into 
Italy through the various little courts connected with 
the ruling Bourbon house, and also through new ave- 

217 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

nues of commercial interest opened up by conditions 
of peace and the desire of France for rich materials and 
for artists to work out the necessary expression for the 
French social setting. Thus it was that Italian imita- 
tion of the French began in earnest, and thus it was 
that the indigenous eighteenth century styles of France 
became the adopted styles of Italy, just as the Renais- 
sance styles indigenous to Italy were adopted by France 
in the sixteenth century, two hundred years earlier. 

Earlier in the century the theatre became the chief 
centre of social amusement. Its popularity grew until 
it may be said to have so impressed its quota of make- 
believe on the Italian mind, as to determine its point 
of view; consequently the appearance of things became 
a fact, the artificial was real, and sensation took, for 
them, the place of the truth. 

Superficial and unintelligent education (a relic of 
Jesuit domination), theatrical and artificial conventions, 
effusive and vacuous frivolity, luxurious and non-pro- 
ductive energy, universally marked conditions in which 
the second half of the century was to develop. In this 
mental atmosphere was to be set the social life and cus- 
toms of the court at Versailles, and here the final strug- 
gle of ancient noblesse and grandeur against effete 
mentality and the perverted senses was to take place. 

The days, too, of Baroque art and its strivings after 
the astonishing, the blatant, the exaggerated, and the 
pompous were past, for in its place had come the Rococo 
style with its dainty, unreal, and well-behaved Arcadians 
and its little elegant and affected deities. Vanity took 
the place of reason, nude figures became naked, the 
toilet was the favourite motif in painting and as one 

218 




THE PIQUANTE CHARM OF THE RIDING HABIT AND THE ENVIRONMENT 
IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN ARE IN PERFECT KEEPING WITH THE PER- 
SONAGES AND WITH THE TECHNIQUE OF THIS LOVELY PAINTING. 




AS THE PERIOD WANED, IF EXTRAVAGANCE IN MATERIALS PER- 
SISTED, EXAGGERATION IN STYLE AND UNRESTRAINED ORNAMENTA- 
TION WERE OBVIOUSLY GIVING PLACE TO PRACTICAL ELEGANCE 
AND NATURAL CHARM. 




MADAME LE BRUN EXPRESSES WELL THE FEELING OF THE TRAN- 
SITION FROM THE EXAGGERATION OF THE DECADE FROM 1778 
TO THE DIRECTOIRE IN THIS ADAPTABLE COSTUME OF ADELAIDE 
DE BOURBON, AS SHE HAS IN THE TWO PRECEDING ILLUSTRATIONS. 




IN THE LITTLE PASTEL PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XVI THE HYPOCRITICAL 
POSE OF THE MONARCHIC IDEA AND THE NEW AND CONSCIOUS 
DESIRE TO BE FREE AND INDIVIDUAL SEEM TO BE DELIGHTFULLY 
COMBINED. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

critic says: "There was nothing spiritual in art, not even 
the Madonna who tried to be like the Pompadour." 
In other words the refinements of the *' harem-art" 
of the French court were becoming supreme in Italy, 
particularly in Venice and the northern provinces. 
In proportion to its acceptance all ideas of the real or 
actual in art expression were displaced, and with it went 
individuality of thought, desire and initiative, except 
such as contributed to one end, the excessive and un- 
questioned imitation of whatever was accepted as the 
vogue at the centre of dictation. 

The author believes thoroughly that this complete 
surrender in the eighteenth century in matters of the 
useful and social arts to the dictates of the king's mis- 
tresses (their taste in some cases being no better than 
their reputations) has persisted to this day, not only in 
France, but in England and in the United States as 
well. This is in no small degree the reason for the help- 
less and often pitiful acceptance by many, of any sort 
of thing so long as some social dictator or self -aggrand- 
ized connoisseur has arrested the development of in- 
dividual taste, while the exaggerated and bedizened 
trapping^s of the worst of all of the French social arts 
have been so long and so eagerly sought after that the 
simpler and saner things, which after all have the real 
charm, have been almost^entirely neglected. 

This seems to be the result of an effort to emulate the 
Pompadour and du Barry on the part of all those who 
would be regarded as doing the correct thing in social 
art. One does ultimately become what his ideals dic- 
tate, and his choice is naturally in accordance with 
what he has actually become. Admitting with critics 

219 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of this period its evident weaknesses, its frivolities, its 
unrealities, and even its effeminacy, it was still an era 
of amusing piquancy where much of the objectionable 
is lost sight of on account of the artistic qualities and 
the spontaneity of the Italian manner. 

Vernon gives such a splendid summing up of these 
characteristics and their relation to the house and cos- 
tumes that we venture to quote verbatim: "Contem- 
porary society was reflected in its dwellings; the elabor- 
ate beds are suggestive of late rising, the profusion of 
mirrors typifies vanity and levity, and points out the 
undue attention to toilet. The large reception rooms 
suggest the habitual occupation of society, their decora- 
tions its elaboration and conventionality. But, in 
spite of the want of sincerity and of force, we must ad- 
mit that there is no little charm in the dainty Dresden 
china and the pretty marble statuettes, the gilded, 
splendid clocks and candelabra, the lacquered and 
painted furniture, the intarsia work in tortoise-shell 
and metal. With them we find the frieze of stucco, the 
frescoed ceiling, the gilt-framed mirrors. All these call 
up images of ladies in hoops, weird head-dresses, powder 
patches, and high heels, waving exquisite fans, and of 
gentlemen in wigs, embroidered suits, and gilded swords, 
who bow low, hat in hand, as the violins begin the lan- 
guid music of the Minuet." 

A curious morbid convention which grew up in Venice 
at this time had a strong influence on the social trend, 
and no doubt tended greatly to weaken, if not to under- 
mine, the general social structure and through this the 
social art expression. This was the established social 
custom that every lady should select some man to be a 
220 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

sort of cavalier e servente, who should be in constant 
attendance upon her as a friend, protector, and source of 
intimate companionship. This is perhaps a curious 
situation to explain, if seen only from the viewpoint of 
the twentieth century with its habits and methods of 
squaring appearances with facts, but if we take into 
consideration Italian spontaneity, eighteenth century 
theatrical mannerisms and the total abandon of the 
period to idleness and amusement, it is not so inex- 
plicable as it seems at first, and we are assured by the 
critics of morals of that day that this inseparable com- 
panionship did not lead to greatly increased immoral- 
ity; that it was, on the contrary, frequently a barrier 
against it, since the cicisbeo himself (not always too 
attractive) assumed and felt a responsibility in the 
protection of his lady from any unseemly attentions. 

Sometimes this man was chosen by the lady, some- 
times by her husband, and not infrequently he was a 
part of the marriage contract. His position, however, 
was not a permanent one, and we must admit that we 
find a tendency to variety in accord with human fickle- 
ness. The delegation of the natural rights of the hus- 
band to another did undoubtedly hasten the crumbling 
of the social order, and it developed besides a group of 
idle and useless men who finally contributed through 
their non-productiveness to the general social collapse. 

The cicisbeo was first of all perfect in his own toilet, 
and this being complete, his next duty was to attend 
upon the toilet of his lady. After this he went with her 
to mass and then to the promenade. At mass he gave 
her holy water on his finger tips, and he carried about her 
fan and other feminine accessories. He dined with her 

221 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

and accompanied her to receptions, where he danced 
with her. At the theatre he was always present, and 
here they took chocolate, flirted and gossiped, paying 
no attention at all to the music. These men were gen- 
erally the older sons of the aristocracy; the younger 
ones became lawyers, or took holy orders if they seemed 
unfit for law. Such was the social training of the young 
men of Venice in the eighteenth century. 

CoflFee houses were very numerous. Here male so- 
ciety assembled to discuss vapid scandals, the latest 
operas, and to while away full time until such an hour 
as their presence was essential to some other form of 
idle and amorous pleasure. 

Austria dominated Milan and Florence and the 
aristocracy were satisfied with the constant amusement 
which the petty courts continuously maintained to 
keep the people quiet. France contributed the same 
kind of party-life through its Bourbon court at Naples, 
a medium through which much of the French manner 
was introduced into Italy. 

Paralleling the Rococo development in Italy (begin- 
ning about the middle of the century) was started what 
is known as the Classic Revival. The discovery of 
Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1738, the paintings in the 
baths of Titus at Rome and the finding of the ruins of 
Psestum in 1752, turned art into an entirely different 
channel. Winckelmann and his followers at Rome 
sought the why of the works of the ancients as well as 
their aesthetic feeling. Mengs, his friend, spread the 
work in Italy and people flocked from France and Eng- 
land to study and absorb the "new classic idea." This 
modelled the art conception of both countries during 
222 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

the last decades of the century, and the reflex through 
England was distinctly felt in the United States of 
America. The classic revival of the second half of the 
century, the home of which was Rome and Naples, be- 
came doubly operative in Italy as it was passed on to 
France and then back again to Italy through French in- 
fluence. 

In literature the Arcadian style, named for the Acad- 
emy at Rome, which was founded in the days of 
Baroque expression, was much in vogue. This gave 
the characteristics of conventionality and artificiality 
both to verse and prose, which fitted well the temper 
of the social element. Gentlemen at toilet were wont 
to have read aloud to them selections from a rhymed 
cook book. Improvising became popular socially on 
such subjects as physics, chemistry, agriculture, and 
mathematics, any one of which had, of course, no real 
interest or meaning for those who assumed a concern 
with them. A great number of plays were written, 
some dull, others amusing. We recall with interest 
the great Metastasio who embodied so well the general 
feeling of the period in his work; Goldoni and Alfieri, 
who represented present conditions combined with a 
prophecy of what was to come. Goldoni more than 
any other seemed to seejife in its aristocratic as well as 
its middle class aspect, and to fear nothing in revealing 
character as it was. He scathingly showed up the 
aristocracy, clearly exposing the vices and frailties of so- 
ciety as well as accusing it of being bourgeois, some- 
times a desirable quality. Gozzi was his antithesis, 
violently opposing the vulgarity of dealing with or- 
dinary incidents in the lives of common people, thus 

223 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

degrading literature as an art. He evidently consid« 
ered that all rights to strange practices and vain follies 
should be reserved for the aristocracy to which he be- 
longed, and he preferred to invest all this with the 
charming illusion of a fairy tale. The feud between 
these two representatives of the Italian theatre finally 
drove Goldoni to Paris, where his plays were very well 
received and where he was generously rewarded. 

We cannot imagine the last half of the century in 
Italy as being complete without the charming Rococo 
frescoes of Tiepolo with their throngs of allegorical 
figures, their too much foreshortened accessories and 
their lovely colour; nor without the fascinating records 
of Venetian everyday life of Longhi, the formal work 
of Canaletto, and the softer and more sympathetic 
canvases of Angelica Kauffman. In every field of en- 
deavour, the Rococo with its unrestraint and pretty 
frivolous diversions is seen acting and reacting, with the 
classic spirit reserved and measured, sometimes stiff 
and formal, and yet powerless to dominate a life al- 
ready committed to sensuous exaggerations. 

As in other periods and in other lands, so it was in 
Italy in the eighteenth century in regard to costume, 
though perhaps there was more individual initiative, 
certainly more than in France. Here at least freedom 
for individual self indulgence was unchanged by the 
verses of the satirists, the theories of the classicists, or 
the philosophy of culture, and that the most was made 
of this situation by the inhabitants of Venice we have 
ample assurance. 

At the beginning of the century we are told that the 
"insatiable desire for richness and show in dress in- 
224 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

jured the elegance of costumes." Gowns became stiff 
and ample, the material ever growing richer and richer. 
Ladies appeared in dresses flounced and ruffled in lace 
and heavy silk, until the lines of the body were entirely 
lost. Hoops, corsets, long pointed bodices, paniers, 
bustles, and crinolines are constantly mentioned. Flam- 
boyant colours, "audacious cuts," and "foreign paints" 
are charged to the toilet of all great ladies, but with 
all this, a certain charm characterized the dress of the 
ladies of Venice in the first quarter of the century, for 
the materialism of the seventeenth century had al- 
ways been tempered with artistic sense, and an appar- 
ent triumphal joyousness in every new and spectacular 
effect. This quality raised all their efforts above the 
ordinary. There are so many and such extravagant 
and lengthy accounts of the costumes of the Venetian 
ladies, and such varieties in fashion and material 
that we may perhaps, because of limited space, get a 
better idea of all this if we quote exactly one inventory 
of the trousseau belonging to a certain Venetian lady in 
1744 instead of selecting elements from a variety of 
places. This account may be taken as fairly represen- 
tative of general conditions : 

"A complete dress of brocade, with cloth of gold 
petticoat, embroidered in silver thread, with brilliants 
and flowers embroidered and enamelled. Another 
complete dress of embroidered cloth, a light brown 
colour, trimmed deep with silver lace flounces, with 
enamels of many colours and silver filigree flowers. 
Robe and train of white, embroidered in gold, silver, and 
flowers. Robe and train of French gray, embroidered in 
gold, silver, and flowers. Robe and train of rose- 

225 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

coloured velvet and false petticoat, with deep flounces 
of gold lace and enamelled flowers. Robe and train of 
silver satin, quilted and embroidered in gold and flow- 
ers, petticoat to match the robe. Robe and train of 
white cloth flowered in enamel, gold, silver, and bril- 
liants. Robe and train of pale green flowered in silver. 
Robe and train, quite plain, with rose-coloured petti- 
coat shaded and flowered. Robe and train without 
silver, embroidered in a peculiar pattern and flowered. 
Robe and train of muslin of many colours. Robe and 
mantle, rose-coloured, and sham petticoat flounced in 
silver lace. Pale blue robe with tassels and little silver. 
Robe of black velvet. Robe of black watered silk. 
Robe woven in stripes and patterns. Robe of Holland 
Possue, trimmed with Spanish point. A patrician's 
robe of black, embroidered and trimmed with lace. 
A patrician's robe with lace flounces. A black Bella- 
cossa with tassels. Mantle and petticoat of black vel- 
vet. Another woven in stripes. A black patrician's 
mantle and petticoat, with embroidery and lace. A 
lemon-coloured Milordino with little silver trimming, 
and cloth-of-silver incisions, and petticoat to match. 
A sacque or Milordino, rose-coloured and embroidered, 
with petticoat to match, richly embroidered in silver. 
A dressing-gown with train, of plain dark stuff embroid- 
ered with flowers. A blue camelot riding-habit em- 
broidered in gold and silver, with bodice of cloth of 
silver glace trimmed with gold. A wrapper of black 
velvet lined with Canadian marten. A wrapper of pale 
blue velvet lined with ermine and vair. A wrapper of 
gold-green cloth and silver bosses, lined with Canadian 
marten, with separate sleeves that will allow it to be 
226 








AN ALMOST ENCHANTING HARMONY EXISTS HERE BETWEExM THE 
BEST TRADITIONS OF LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SOCIAL FRANCE, 
ITS PEOPLE, THEIR COSTUMES, AND THE ROOMS IN WHICH THEIR 
LIVES WERE PASSED. 




UNDOUBTEDLY THE ARCADIAN POINT OF VIEW HAD MUCH TO DO 
WITH THE SIMPLE GRACE AND THE CULTURED ^STHETICISM OF 
THESE FASHIONS. 




THE FASCINATING OPTIMISM AND GAY ABANDON OF THIS YOUNG 
WOMAN ARE ADMIRABLY REPEATED IN EVERY ARTICLE OF DRESS 
THAT SHE HAS CHOSEN. IT IS A REAL LESSON IN PERSONALITY 
EXPRESSION. 




ROYAL DICTATION IS SUPPLANTED BY INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION 
AND SUPERFICIAL EXTRAVAGANCE BY AFFECTED SIMPLICITY. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

turned into a robe. Cloak and domino of gray embroid- 
ered in silver. Petticoats of white camelot embroidered 
in gold and silver with bodice to match, of green richly 
embroidered in gold. Another bodice of beaver em- 
broidered with gold and flowers. Another of limousine 
camelot with silver braid, rose-coloured with deep silver 
lace trimming. Another blue with silver embroidery. 
Plain white stays. Several corsets, white embroidered 
in gold, with herring-bone sewing; rose-coloured with 
silver stitching and silver lace trimming. Beaver 
drawers, trimmed in gold, with burnished clasps; rose- 
coloured cloth embroidered with silver; pale blue 
damask embroidered in silver; black velvet embroid- 
ered with gold; of rose-coloured cloth trimmed with sil- 
ver; of patrician black. Five hooped skirts, rose, white, 
pale blue, and roedeer skin, five in all. A lace bauta. 
An embroidered lawn bauta. Two English hats. 
Cloaks of camelot embroidered in gold; with silver lace. 
A patrician's cloak embroidered. Little cloaks of black 
velvet with Spanish point trimmings; of crape with black 
lace trimming. Paris cloaks with silver embroidery; 
with flower embroidery; a gray travelling-cloak em- 
broidered and lined with rose-coloured plush and silver 
incisions: of rose-coloured velvet trimmed with Russian 
ermine, and lined with vair, with silver incisions. A 
boa with its round clasp in gold and silver. Another 
with clasp of silver and enamelled flowers. Another 
in cloth of silver with little gold embroidery and flow- 
ered. Others of light cloth of silver, of silver lace, em- 
broidered in blue flowers. Colliers wrought in gold 
and silver with silk tassels of various colours. Two 
white lace handkerchiefs from Sessa and two from Vi- 

227 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

enna, one of white lawn with gold embroidery and 
flowers, the other with plain flowers. A large muff em- 
broidered in gold and silver. Another of rose-coloured 
velvet with silver cords." Then follows a list of 
chemises, ruffles, caps, coifs, neck cloths with precious 
lace, silk stockings, embroidered slippers, shoes of vel- 
vet and fur, fans studded with brilliants and diamonds, 
satin cloaks with gold and silver embroidery, sables, 
black fox, ermine, wolf, and beaver. 

By the middle of the century French fashions were 
brought into Venice every Ascensiontide. At this time 
the milliners dressed up huge dolls in all the latest modes 
and finery and exposed them in public places. This 
custom of a fashion show prevailed until the Revolution 
in France, when classic garments became the vogue and 
Venice responded quickly to the French temper. A 
contemporary writer tells us that in Venice the ex- 
travagance of the dresses was matched by the absurdi- 
ties of the hats which were, according to one, Businello, 
"cultivated like a garden," and we find Gozzi ridiculing 
hats that looked "like baskets of cabbages." It seems 
as if we had found here the immediate forerunners of 
some of the present styles in which vegetables, fruits, 
flowers, and feathers make common cause on one head. 
Itis likely, too, that the same state of mind inspired them 
then as now. 

Alas the court of Marie Antoinette could do no worse 
with the hair than could the hair-dresser of Venice. 
Even at the risk of repeating too many of Molmenti's 
not too delicate comments we must state what he says 
in regard to the hairdresser and his products: "The 
hairdresser combed out, curled, and waved the locks, 
228 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

added false hair, gathered it all up into the fantastic 
towers of the tupe (conzieri or cimieri in Venetian), and 
then powdered the whole; the use of powder in the 
seventeenth century had become an essential in both 
male and female hairdressing. Ladies of fashion wore 
huge mob caps, feathers, lace, cupidons, butterflies, 
stuffed birds, ears of corn, flowers, fruit, on their heads. 
A writer of the Seicento remarks that ' the face compared 
with its elaborate setting of hair seemed like the earth in 
comparison with the circumambient sky,' another writer 
of the same epoch declares that it would have required a 
whole volume to describe a head-dress with its jewels 
and its flowers; and no wonder, for it had emptied the 
purse of the unfortunate husband to build it up." 

We find as many different shapes here as at Versailles, 
and that this invention was further ornamented with 
portraits of the wearer's father, lovers, canaries, and 
pet dogs. We note with amusement that no mention 
is made of the husband except as he became responsible 
for the expense, which seems to have been enormous 
and, so far as is recorded, was borne with becoming 
silence. It seems very peculiar that the Venetians in 
the presence of so much water failed to use any for 
washing purposes. Ladies sponged their faces but 
immediately covered them with rouge and paint and it 
is related "they soaked their clothes, from their chemi- 
ses to their gloves, in perfume that scented the air three 
miles off." These perfumes were supposed to possess 
medicinal properties. Balsam and musk diluted in 
water were considered an effective remedy for heart 
disease and dropsy. They used pills made of soap to 
cure headache and stomach-ache. Toward the end of 

m9 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the century patches on the face were so universal 
that they were used as symbols in expressing ideas. 
A patch on the nose was called sfrontta, one at the cor- 
ner of the eye passionata, on the lip gallante, near the eye 
irresistibile, in the middle of the forehead maestosa, and 
at the corner of the mouth assassina. 

Underclothing is described as rich and elegant but not 
especially clean. Finest linen bordered with silver lace 
and other rich materials was generally used. Handker- 
chiefs were richly ornamented and were rare. Women 
adopted the use of coloured ones as soon as the taking 
of snuff became an established custom. Curious com- 
ments these on the state of mind even in those days of 
decadence. 

Jewels abounded. The head, neck, arms, and fingers 
were covered sometimes with real gems, but as Goldoni 
assures us, more often with imitation ones, particularly 
just before the outbreak of the French Revolution when 
things were most exaggerated and most unreal. Num- 
berless chains, eyeglasses, snuff boxes, clocks, and other 
things were worn or carried by both men and women, 
and fans were the most elaborate, varied, and universal 
of all toilet accessories. Goldoni's assurance should 
give comfort to such of our friends as were too greatly 
shocked upon the death of a lady who was a recognized 
social leader a few years since, when her pearls were 
found to be but imitations of the real thing. 

The women of the middle classes were not willing to 
be outdone by their more fortunate sisters, so they 
copied their clothes and insisted that they must be 
present at certain places of amusement, and be recog- 
nized as fit to be there. 
230 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

The women of the people although they are said to 
have adopted strange fashions, were less desirous of 
imitating the patrician class and therefore proved more 
interesting and picturesque. They wore gowns of 
flaming colours; scarlet bodies, highly embroidered 
aprons, gold chains on their necks, many coloured 
ribbons in their hair and white shoes. 

The costumes of the men were not less varied nor less 
extravagant than those of the women. After ex- 
patiating on the gorgeous "plumage-like clothes" of 
men and the effeminacy to which all men were com- 
mitted, a contemporary writer said that clothes then 
were made of silks and velvets covered in embroidery, 
that white silk stockings were also embroidered, and 
hats with plumes and precious stones were getting to be 
universal! He mentions shoes with gold and silver 
buckles set in precious stones, ruflBes of lace at the 
breast and wrists, and faces powdered, painted, and 
patched so that they were ''worse got up" than the 
women whom they attended. 

We quote here a translation of what seems to be 
half satirical counsel given to the young bloods of 
Venice who were going to the fair of San Antonio at 
Padua in 1751. This will at least indicate many of the 
points essential to the practices of the time in so far at 
least as the patricians are concerned. 

^'Rules necessary to a Noble and polished Youth for 
making a brilliant appearance at the coming Fete of 
the patron Saint of Padua, 1751 — in thirty chapters: 

1. Embroidered coat to the value of about 200 Sequins. 

2. Two other Coats in good taste, and fashionable to 
wear during the day. 3. Breeches to match the coats 

231 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

or with a fastening of three gold Buckles. 4. Superfine 
Shirts with English point, and superfine Flanders 
laces, and should be changed every day. 5. Silk 
stockings with two Tassels from Paris, with a lead 
seal at two Sequins a pair. 6. Belt pendents of gold 
embroidered silk with five gold Clasps. 7. Steel 
Sword mounted in gold, with white ribbon worked in 
gold, and tassels. 8. Black shoes with leather soles 
and gold Buckles. 9. Peruke of M. su Taquel with a 
toupee a verze and its little ornamented bag. 10. Col- 
lars held by gold Clasps, changed twice a day. 11. A 
plain English Hat weighing three ounces. 12. Two 
White Handkerchiefs, one for paring Fruit, the other to 
serve the Lady when she takes a Sherbet, Coffee or 
Chocolate: two others for the Nose, of tree bark, and 
all sprinkled with spirits of Lavender. 13. Silk sponges 
for wiping off the perspiration. 14. Two pairs of white 
Gloves from Rome, one pair in the hand the other in the 
pocket with two pairs of Ladies' gloves of different 
sizes, for any contingency that might occur, making 
sure that they have no odour. 15. Snuff boxes, one of 
gold for Spanish Tobacco, the other of red papier mache 
of M. su Marsian for Tobacco of the Country. 16. A 
case with its fittings and instruments all of gold. 
17. A small gold Case with his spoon and Hanover 
powder. 18. A Stand mounted in gold with perfumed 
spirits of the latest mode. 19. Another Stand divided 
in two by Neapolitan Devils and Imps. 20. A mirror. 
Memorandum book, Brushes, Pins, of various sorts. 
Strings, Adzes, Silk of various colours in two little 
boxes. 21. Opera glass with its Tortoise-shell and gold 
case. 22. Repeating Clock, on one side an enamel face 
232 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

with French time, and on the other one of gold with 
Itahan time. 23. Two packages of French and ItaKan 
Paper. 24. Fans with white Ribbon which one places 
between the inner folds of the Velada for protecting the 
Lady from the sun, offering her the arm after the usage 
of Sinigalia. 25. Two rings, one a Ruby and the other 
a Brilliant, two little souvenirs, one with small brilli- 
ants, and the other may be real pinchbeck, which may 
serve as a remembrance and as a specific. 26. A 
Purse of silk net with gold Coins and in it some large 
pieces of money in quite new silver, to pay for anything 
the Lady happens to need if by chance she should lose at 
play, and a hundred Sequins more in specie of the 
reigning Doge. 27. He should always have in his 
pocket candied Fruits in a gilded box, pieces of Choco- 
late, Pistachio, Chestnuts, Pickles, Imps and other 
trifles pertaining to gallantry. 28. A groom and a 
knavish Lackey, who will be skillful on occasions which 
might arise for fleeing the City to go to a Villa. 29. 
Gilded Cabriolet with two fine Horses. 30. A box 
with Assafoeteda in reality, which will serve for the 
Lady if she suffers a hysterical Attack; this comes for 
the most part compounded with good scents. When 
the K. r is fitted out in this manner he can, without any 
doubt, according to the expressed opinion of the most 
judicious, the authorized protectors of the grand mode, 
make his appearance in good society with a Lady, and 
may always hope to draw the applause of the Lady, it 
remaining only to point out to him that he should often 
interrupt his graceful conversation with some French 
Song; this he can learn in the famous book entitled: 
*L'Amor de Palajo Roie'." 

233 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Of course the government, alarmed lest a universal 
bankruptcy should come upon the land, legislated ever 
and anon, and in 1781 made a most vigorous attempt 
to check the mad extravagance in clothes, but always 
with one result — ^namely, a more vigorous and deter- 
mined effort on the part of all classes to "invent anew 
and spend the more." 

Corresponding with the salon in France was the 
conversazione of Italy. This was woman's kingdom. 
Goldoni says: "It is enough to make you die of laughing 
to go to a conversazione. There are the ladies with 
their cavalieri serventi; they sit there stiff as statues, 
waiting to be adored; her lover sighs over the shoulder of 
one, or kneels at her feet; another hands the tea, or 
picks up a handkerchief, or kisses a hand, or offers his 
arm, or plays the secretary, the footman, the hair- 
dresser, the perfumer, or fondles or follows about like a 
dog." 

The great halls of the palaces were frequently opened 
also for balls and concerts, where the greatest antics 
were performed. Often the conversazione began after 
these fetes, sometimes at two o'clock in the morning, and 
lasted till well after the light of day had broken. Amid 
the clatter of conversation, the flutter of fans, the rustle 
of silks and the flirtations of the patricians and their 
cicisbei, there filtered into Italy political seditions, 
religious agnosticism and the social unrest which was 
gradually undermining the old order in France and 
which at last culminated in the Revolution in 1789. 

The philosophy of Voltaire and Rousseau, the theo- 
ries of paganism in regard to the marriage contract, 
individual rights of man and the meaning of nature 




THE REVOLUTION WIPED OUT THE GRACE, DESTROYED THE CHARM, 
AND ARRESTED, AT LEAST FOR A TIME, THE ACTIVITY OF THE ES- 
THETIC CREATIVE POWER. 




I ^ 'i ' -Ciif „|;i\f: 









IN THE DIRECTOIRE FASHIONS THERE ARE ALMOST UNLIMITED 
IDEAS FOR MODERN USE; RATHER SIMPLE, QUITE PRACTICAL, SOME- 
TIMES CHIC AND EVEN, IN MANY INSTANCES, ^STHETICALLY CON- 
CEIVED. 




IT WAS NOT GIVEN TO THE LADIES TO EXPLOIT THE NEW AND LESS 
AUTOCRATIC PHASE IN FASHION OF DRESS AS IT WAS ARRESTED 
BY THE EMPIRE. 




LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. VENETIAN. IF 
ALL ELSE IN VENICE WAS ARTIFICIAL, THIS FAMILY GROUP WAS SIM- 
PLE, NATURAL, AND PICTURESQUE IN ITS PERSONALITIES AND ITS 
COSTUMES. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

were flippantly discussed over the coffee cup and amidst 
the surroundings which were the natural setting of the 
conversazione — the opera and the coffee house. Gradu- 
ally but surely society was imbibing the ideas that 
were destined after they had sufficiently penetrated 
general consciousness, to revolutionize thought and then 
life. 

The development of the particular style called Louis 
Seize in France was practically dictated from Ver- 
sailles. Paris rebelled at the autocratic mandates but 
copied them in self defense. The outlying provinces 
took their ideals from the same source, for Versailles was 
still France, at least in theory. 

In Italy it was different. Italy was not a unit. 
Venice was a world alone, Rome a law unto herself; 
Florence austere and dull under the grand Duke Peter 
Leopold thought in terms totally unlike sophisticated 
Milan or impulsive Naples. Each and every quarter of 
Italy was individual and the art of Louis Seize was an 
adopted fashion taken on after it was formulated, and 
re-expressed by individual states as differently as it 
would be by totally different nations, or by two very 
unlike individuals of the same nation. This is its 
charm. 

Lombardy was one of the progressive states and 
Milan a culture centre. Here as in Venice the middle 
and lower classes were as imbued with culture and art 
as were the nobles. An English woman who wrote 
from Milan in 1771 said: "We had the pleasure of seeing 
how extremely opulent the citizens and their families 
appear even down to the lowest mechanics, though I 
cannot say I liked to see blacksmiths and shoemakers 

235 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

with gold and silver stuffs in waistcoats, long swords 
and embroidered knots; tailors in brocade and fine 
laced ruffles, etc. This is carrying opulence into luxury. 
At the same time, waving their ridiculous excesses, I 
was rejoiced to see everybody appear rich and happy. 
The noblesse and great ladies dress in a more noble 
style than in Paris and have a very genteel air and 
manner: their clothes are of the richest materials: 
and better made than any I have yet seen in 
Italy." 

This is enlightening when compared with the ex- 
cesses of Venice, and with the individual peculiarities 
of the other states. Rome was autocratic and the 
luxury and extravagance of the families of the popes 
and of the great cardinals is a matter of historic record 
as is the poverty and degradation of the masses there 
during this period. 

Contrasting Venice, however, with other states, in his 
''History of Italian Furniture" Odom beautifully and 
comprehensively says of Venice: ** Under no foreign 
restraint she gaily feted herself to disaster with wealth 
amassed by her patricians in the days of their commercial 
supremacy. . . . Still insatiable in the desire for 
new fashions Venice frivolously and charmingly 
patterned her painted furniture and the decorations of 
her interiors after the Louis Seize style in France, 
modifying them by her own desire for sensuous colour, 
while blending antique ideas with classically tempered 
motifs retained from her graceful Rococo style." 

Her own peculiar abandon to sensation and novelty 
was even more clearly seen in her surrender to them in 
matters of costume, the art which, after all, more than 
236 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: FRANCE AND ITALY 

any other, is the expression of an unquenchable passion 
for a new sensation, an untried adventure and a more 
personal display for purposes of attraction, which 
really was the means through which their choicest aims 
in social life were to be accomplished. 



237 



CHAPTER SIX 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN ENGLAND 
AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



IT IS not very strange that one is accustomed to think 
of his own mental ancestors of the Middle Ages and of 
the Renaissance also, as so far removed as to be viewed 
as chronological curiosities rather than as real con- 
tributors to one's present state of mind. A closer 
acquaintance, however, seems to establish pretty clearly 
the fact that they are not so different from us as we 
imagine, and that the more we know of them the better 
we understand not only them, but ourselves. The 
closer the contact, too, the more fully we appreciate the 
fundamental instincts, impulses, and powers of the 
human mind, and the more deeply we are impressed 
with the importance of a complete knowledge of facts 
and circumstances before passing final judgment. 

The eighteenth century, however, does not appear to 
us so far away. We seem to be able to realize without 
much difficulty the sensual abandon of the court of 
Louis XV, the artificial and unstable times of Marie 
Antoinette and the awful retribution of the French 
Revolution. To one with the rudiments of an imagina- 
tion it is not difficult to picture proud and gorgeous 
Venice, dominated but not debased, sensuous but not 
sensual, decadent but not licentious, frittering away 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

her remaining substance, and thus gradually sapping 
the very life energy of her people. An examination, too, 
of the art expression of any of these groups seems to 
reveal to us again the unmistakable quality relations 
that always exist between man and his works, or in 
other words between the mental conception and the 
externalized thought. It is easy for us to see relation- 
ships here because more of our own ideas, ideals, and 
practices are recognizable in eighteenth century life as 
they are less obscured by the more fundamental require- 
ments and aspirations of the earlier periods. 

To us whose lot has fallen in the United States of 
America, France and Italy are of vital interest, no 
matter what our origin or training, for they are the 
centres from which has emanated much that we our- 
selves are, and still more of what we live in. To a 
large proportion of us much has come from these sources 
by indirect filtration through other national ideals, 
being in some measure modified by the mental current 
through which it has passed. 

With England and its particular interpretation of 
these ideals, with the addition of its own peculiarly 
British contribution, we are even more closely as- 
sociated from this period on, for by the beginning of the 
eighteenth century England had begun to dominate the 
civilization of the Colonies, and by the middle of the 
century this process was to all intents and purposes 
complete. 

Even in the third quarter of the century, after the 
independence of the Colonies permanently severed them 
from political domination, in spite of the very important 
influx of French ideas during, and immediately after. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the Revolution, the social ideals of the United States of 
America were about as English as those of England it- 
self, and the setting for these ideals called the Colonial 
style, was but a youth's interpretation of his father's 
manner of doing things. This ties the psychology and 
the art expression of England and the United States in a 
common knot during the eighteenth century, rendering 
an interrelation between them essential to our discussion 
of their social life and its expression. 

Even a brief summary of the political history of 
England and the United States of America during the 
eighteenth century would seem superfluous here, it being 
so well known, its results but a century away, some of 
them in sooth but a decade, so we need only now and 
then correlate certain related ideas, and perhaps 
designate the monarchs and other persons with whose 
names we have more or less associated events and 
historical documents of all sorts, both in England and at 
home. 

The century in England was ushered in by the period 
of Queen Anne, whose reign may be said to express the 
last gasp of monarchic autocracy in the art of England. 
Unlike France, committed at this time soul and body to 
the autocracy of kings in all matters of manners, morals, 
and expression, England, for centuries the cradle of 
individualism, was the logical home for the rebirth, or 
rather the reassertion, of the spirit in matters of art. 
While the art of the period was called Queen Anne, it 
seems improbable that the influence of the queen, or of 
the court for that matter, had any considerable bearing 
upon the trend of art or even upon fashion. In the. 
reigns that followed it would be inconceivable to connect 
240 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

even for a moment the German Georges, much less 
their still more German queens, with the ideals of 
England as they were expressed in the various social art 
fields. 

Although in discussing fashion in costumes we shall 
need to speak of it in connection with the variety of 
Georges whose reigns completed the century, we shall 
be thinking in general terms of the new power, for 
instance, of such great architects as Paine, Taylor, 
Chambers, and Adams, working according to their 
ideals, gentlemen for gentlemen. Each of these had 
taste, and was doubtless interested in the classic revival 
of architecture with no thought of what the attitude of 
the court might be on the subject. There were Chip- 
pendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton and other great cab- 
inet-makers who comprehended individual expression, 
and who had the power to develop their conceptions 
in the broadest way, which resulted in the formation of 
styles in the essential furnishings of a house quite unlike 
each other, perhaps less aesthetically conceived and 
executed than those of autocratic France, but thought 
out with regard to function no less effectively, and 
surely no less perfect in matters of technical carpentry 
or joinery than the most exacting of critics could desire. 
The point is that another and very different idea was 
being crystallized and expressed than that which came 
out of the French or the Italian mind in this, the 
greatest social century of our development. 

It was the old idea of liberty in thought and action 
born in a new body, social this time, instead of religious 
or political, as was the case in the previous centuries 
of our development. In this England led the civilized 

241 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

nations of the world, and in this the very nature of the 
United States was conceived. Young and conscious 
only of a part of her powers, she undoubtedly, con- 
sciously and subconsciously, copied in large measure 
up to 1776, the very manners, customs, and expressions 
of her parent as completely as possible, considering 
distance, the difficulty of communication, her own 
limitations and the undeveloped means of transporting 
things from the mother country. Her aim was none 
the less clearly defined: to be like her parent at all 
costs, and when able to do so to be even more English 
than the older folk across the sea. This must be re- 
membered when we discuss eighteenth century fashions 
either in England or in the United States, for we were 
not so plain, so humble, nor so modest in our dress as is 
generally supposed. 

We find even France conscious of this individual 
initiative, and see her in turn, near the close of the 
century, attempting to copy the ideas and practices of 
England with a frenzy that earned the well deserved 
name of Anglomania; and, truth to tell, Italy was no 
less concerned in imitating her at about the same time. 

An interesting estimate of the English mind as seen 
by an Italian Jesuit who visited England about the 
middle of the century, is found in one of his letters to a 
Reverend brother at Rome. He says: ''Nothing is so 
frequently met with as discontent in the manners and 
expressions of the English people, and nothing so un- 
common as that disposition amongst the French; a 
Briton growls at his situation in life all day long, and a 
Frenchman seems pleased with his; and yet, the former 
extols the mode of his government beyond all others in 
242 







O 



Pi >H 







ABOUT 1785. VENETIAN. THE FASHIONS OF VERSAILLES INTER- 
PRETED IN ITALY HAVE A CHARM ALL THEIR OWN, MADE MORE 
INTERESTING THROUGH THEIR PERSONAL QUALITY. 




ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. 
CHARMING FROCK OF ENGLISH SILK MADE IN A SIMPLE FASHION. 




ABOUT 1760. ENGLISH. THE EARLY FASHION OF PETTICOAT PROMI- 
NENCE AND THE EMBROIDERED APRON. THIS WAS WIDELY COPIED' 
IN THE COLONIES. NOTICE THE FASHION OF THE NECK AND SLEEVES. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

Europe, and affirms, that England is the only land of 
liberty and happiness. If we examine the waywardness 
of an Englishman the little inclination he has to follow 
any opinion but his own, whether conceived to be right, 
or preferred because he would have it so, we shall find 
something in him not to be found in a Frenchman. 
This same cause is the source of discontent as well as 
waywardness." The difference in point of view is in 
this case the key to the whole situation and explains 
at once the mode of progress of the individual idea and 
its struggles, as well as the possibilities of personal con- 
tent where one's present and future states of conscious- 
ness are all settled for him. 

May we be pardoned if we illustrate this attitude 
with one more quotation from another letter of this 
same gentleman: ''No creature on the globe has half 
the arrogance of the Quaker; he accosts the king him- 
self as 'Friend George,' the minister as 'Neighbour 
William,' and this without the least reluctance, distrust 
of himself, or mark of confusion." A situation surely 
unthought of and incredible where the power of divine 
right did not approach being completely broken. 

Let us return for a moment to the period of Queen 
Anne, when the crown had neutralized some of the 
unpopularity brought upon it by William and Mary, and 
when a slight outward appearance of respect between it 
and the church and the people was at least discernible, 
and endeavour to see what was the underlying cause of 
the disintegration of its power during the first half of the 
century and hence what really made possible the out- 
burst of individualism about the middle of the century. 

The Treaty of Utrecht had forced England to aban- 

MS 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

don her hitherto unchallenged position of isolation, com- 
pelling her to become more openly and interestedly 
associated with the other great European powers. The 
rapid growth of the Colonies in America and their 
accumulation of wealth, with their corresponding 
aspirations to be both seen and heard at home and 
abroad was making commercial interests and the 
possibilities in new materials and newly acquired wealth 
a problem. Religious tangles were in no wise 
straightened out as they constantly became more in- 
volved with political problems. This had a weakening 
effect and resulted in many complications. The spirit 
of religion suffered and became so weakened that by the 
middle of the century it seemed sometimes inoperative. 

In the midst of all this (in 1714) George I was called to 
the English throne, which he occupied until 1727, his 
successor George II reigning until 1760. This epoch, 
"lain out by an all wise Providence" as a writer has it 
(and by the way there is more than a sense of humour in 
this), may be thought of as one modified perhaps in its 
ideals by the peculiarities of the two German queens. 
The latter and more interesting one seems to have, at 
least for a time, obliged her royal spouse to obey his 
minister, who happened up to 1742 to be none other 
than the great Horace Walpole. These facts are only 
mentioned as an assistance in recalling the picture of a 
political, religious, social situation in which individu- 
alism flourished. 

In a period so fraught with events and so intimately 
associated with the names of individuals who created 
public opinion as well as of those who created objects in 
answer to the expressed needs of the public, it is neither 
244 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

needful nor seemly to attempt to correlate the arts as 
we have done in earlier periods where the facts and 
persons were less clearly in mind, so we will confine our- 
selves mainly to the art of costume, to fashion and to the 
social state of mind that produced them. 

To begin with, Goldsmith gives us his opinion of the 
English lady of this period, compared with her clothes, 
in an essay where he says : "Foreigners observe that there 
are no ladies in the world more beautiful or more ill- 
dressed than those of England. Our countrywomen 
have been compared to those pictures where the face is 
the work of a Raphael, but the draperies thrown out by 
some empty pretender, destitute of taste, and entirely 
unacquainted with designs ... If I were a poet I 
might observe, on this occasion, that so much beauty, 
set off with all the advantages of dress, would be too 
powerful an antagonist for the opposite sex; and there- 
fore it was wisely ordered that our ladies should 
want taste, lest their admirers should entirely want 
reason." 

Another English writer says of the same ladies, how- 
ever, that "It has always been, and is still, a stock 
saying with foreigners that English women are ill- 
dressed, but the saying has little point in it, since the 
majority of English fashions still come from abroad. 
On the comparatively rare occasions when the English 
women rely upon their own invention, taste, and 
judgment, they appear better dressed than the women 
of any European country." He forgets though that an 
Aztec woman may not look well-dressed in the fashions 
of the French court, nor the French lady necessarily 
well-dressed in the best fashions of Aztec land, since the 

245 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

harmony of the individual with his clothes is as impor- 
tant as the source of the fashion. 

Every sidelight as to the point of view is interesting 
when attempting to see relationships, and nowhere is 
there to be found more diverse and amusing estimates 
than those relating to England at this time. 

An Italian priest finds so great a difference in tem- 
perament and in family life between England and Italy 
that he thus writes a friend at Rome about the middle 
of the century: "That women have separate delights 
than those of a husband's company, is nothing surpris- 
ing to an Italian : but that there should be so little 
conversation between men and their wives when they 
are not disagreeable to each other, is somewhat singular. 
It is no uncommon thing in London, perhaps it is the 
most common, for a couple to live together on very 
good terms, who have not the least real love for each 
other: if their condition of life supplies them with 
money enough, each person has his separate pleasures. 
. . . When either one dies the survivor makes a 
handsome funeral and looks out for another partner." 
Too familiar a doctrine no doubt to need repetition 
here, but a manifestation of individualism in social 
life new to the writer if old to us. 

This same personage's insistence in another letter 
that the reason even the English esteem the ladies of 
Italy and France so much more highly than those of 
England, is due to the fact that the latter have so little 
practice in training the young men in the art of love- 
making that they neglect to cultivate their minds to a 
point of perfectness where they can understand them. 
He tells how English youth spend the years from thir- 
246 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

teen to twenty-four or five in the university, Instructed 
by men, while the ladies sit and wait or frivol away 
their time, while in France the youth of thirteen is 
turned over to the women of the social set, and he is 
instructed by these ladies in manner as befits his future 
occupation of social amusement. This the writer in- 
sists necessitates a ''female mind" so complete and so 
trained as to be able to do honour to the calling which 
has fallen to her lot. Perchance we had all noticed the 
difference he points out but had not seen it exactly from 
this point of view before. 

Some good sound advice was being given about dress 
along with the satire, wit, and other criticism of the 
time. From ''The Ladies Library" published in 1739 
we take the following: ''Affectation in Dress always 
misses the End it aims at, and raises Contempt instead of 
Admiration. Negligence is on the other hand an Error 
that ought to be corrected; Neatness, Proportion, and 
Decency of Dress, are always commendable. Virtue it- 
self is disagreeable in a Sloven; and that lady who takes 
no Care of herself will find no body will care for her. 
The Fault is the Excess : Mind your Persons, but mind 
your Understandings too. . . . Let Ladies, above 
all things, consult Decency and Ease; never to expose 
nor torture Nature, Fashion is always aiming at Perfec- 
tion, but never finds it, or never stops where it should: 
'Tis always mending, but never improving: A true 
Labour in vain; and consequently those that follow it, 
are guilty of the highest Folly and Madness. To 
change for the sake of Changing, is to submit to the 
Government of Caprice; and that Man or Woman that 
is given up to it, will surely be as whimsical in the other 

247 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

parts of their Conduct. Is it sufficient for a reasonable 
Mind, to like a thing purely because 'tis new, or to dis- 
like it because it is not? Must a foolish Fashion please 
me, for that 'tis a Novelty, and a good one displease, be- 
cause I have try'd it and found it so? If Fops reckon 
wise Men out of their Wits when they are out of the 
Fashion, wise Men have certainly much more ground to 
think them mad when they are in it." 

From the same source we get "If Dress, as we are 
told in Scripture, was to cover Nakedness, it seems in 
our Days not to answer the End of it, especially with the 
Ladies; who, one would imagine by their Dress, are so 
far from reckoning themselves obliged to their Mother 
Eve, for dressing them, that they are for throwing away 
the very Fig-leaves; they have already uncovered their 
Shoulders and Breasts, and as they have gone so far in 
a few Months, what may they not do in Years?" 

Let us see how all this variety of opinion really 
worked out when it was aggregated, assimilated and 
submitted to fashion and her demands for a compromise 
and afterward an expression in clothes. The assuming 
of French fashions in manners and in clothes presents 
quite a problem to any nation not French, to whom, in 
consequence, these manners or clothes are not a heri- 
tage. The more remotely related in ideas those were 
who espoused the alien expression, the more grotesque 
the appearance and the more unnatural the affilia- 
tion. 

By no stretch of the imagination could anybody fancy 
even a fairly intelligent Englishman assuming success- 
fully the role of a French dandy, and no doubt that is 
the reason why all historians of costume, as well as 
248 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

satirists and wits, seem to have selected this species for 
special exploitation. It is not to be wondered at when 
we reflect what the product must have been like. 
"Fancy the beaux thronging the chocolate houses, 
tapping their snuffboxes as they issue thence, their 
periwig appearing over the red curtains. We find our- 
selves willingly discussing the shoes of the King of 
France with a crowd of powdered beaux, those shoes, 
the dandyism of which has never been surpassed, the 
heels if you please painted by Vandermeulen, with 
scenes from Rhenish victories, or we go to the toy shops 
in Fleet Street where we make assignations or buy us a 
mask. Everywhere the beaux. He rides the world 
like a cockhorse or like Og the giant rode the Ark of 
Noah steering it with his feet, getting his washing for 
nothing and his meals passed up to him out of the 
chimney. Here the beaux, the everlasting beaux in 
gold lace, wide cuffs, full skirts, swinging cane, a scarf of 
flashing colour, the coats embroidered with flowers 
and butterflies, the cuffs a mass of fine sewing, the 
three cornered hats cocked at a jaunty angle, the 
stockings rolled above the knees, lacquer hilted swords, 
paste buckles, gold and silver snuffboxes flashing in the 
sun." This, taken directly from a History of English 
Costume, shows this particular type in a not too ob- 
noxious manner^ 

In 1768 the beau with his muff was thus satirized in 
"Lionel and Clarissa, " a comic opera: 

"A coxcomb, a fop, a dainty milk-sop; 
Who, essenc'd and dizen'd from bottom to top. 
Looks just like a doll for a milliner's shop. 

249 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

A thing full of prate, and pride and conceit. 

All fashion, no weight; 
Who shrugs and takes snuff; and carries a muff; 
A minnikin, finicking, French powder-puff." 

A non-productive existence through social blandish- 
ments seems not to have been so respected a vocation in 
England as It was In other lands, yet it flourished there 
to prove the old adage that "it takes all kinds to make a 
world" and convinces us that no specimen is, was, or 
ever has been entirely missing. The finishing touch is 
given this phase by a lady who writes : '' Foppery in dress 
has been so well ridiculed by men of wit that we are 
less troubled with It than ever. While It was a sin only, 
and was ranked under the heads of Pride and Vanity, 
while Damnation was the only Punishment, It flourished 
amain ! but now It Is become a Jest, and the Fop Is sure 
to be laughed at, he avoids that for the sake of his 
character, which he would not have avoided for the 
Sake of his Salvation." Severe arraignments these for 
Individual freedom In expressing one's personal inter- 
pretation of foreign ideas In borrowed fashions. 

The costumes in general during the period of George I 
are not over-Interesting, but these observations may be 
helpful in sensing the general and the particular states 
of mind and the consequent point of view as to fashion 
and its practical application. Shoemakers, milUners, 
and dressmakers were generally French importations. 
When they did not work in London their creations were 
Imported in great quantities, and we see the native 
creators of costumes hard at work copying those that 
had successfully crossed the Channel. 
250 




BEGINNING OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
ENGLISH. A BROCADE GOWN WITH QUILTED SILK PETTICOAT 
AND CALASH HEADPIECE. SHOWS FRENCH INFLUENCE IN CUT. 
THIS WAS ALSO COPIED IN THE COLONIES. 




ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. NEW ENGLAND 
COLONIAL (wife OF A MERCHANT). AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE 
OF THE RESULTS OF PURITAN IDEALS IN DRESS AFTER ONE CENTURY 
OF DEVELOPMENT. 




A LITTLE PAST THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. COLO- 
NIAL. NO TRACE OF PURITAN RESTRAINT, NO INDICATION OF NEW 
ENGLAND THRIFT, AND NO LACK OF FASHIOn's POWER, IS SEEN HERE. 




THIRD QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. IN RICHNESS 
OF MATERIAL THIS MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN FRENCH INSTEAD OF 
COLONIAL, ALTHOUGH IN CUT AND IN FEELING IT IS DISTINCTLY 
ENGLISH. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

In a letter written to the ''Spectator," in praise of 
French fashion, we have this: "You cannot imagine, 
worthy sir, how ridiculously I find we have all been 
trussed up during the war, and how infinitely the 
French dress excells ours. The mantua has no lead in 
the sleeves, and I hope we are not lighter than the 
French ladies, so as to want that kind of ballast; the 
petticoat has no whalebone, but sets with an air al- 
together gallant and degage; the coiffure is inexpressibly 
pretty, and in short the whole dress has a thousand 
beauties in it." 

An inventory of 1720 assures us that out of a very 
long list of essentials for every lady's wardrobe and 
toilet nearly every article, except some coarse woollen 
ones, was of foreign make, including pomatums, patches, 
powder, wire, whalebone and hoops, beside jewels, 
combs, and essences. The conclusion of the writer is 
that England may at least speed up her manufacture 
and use of woollen stuffs if nothing more. 

The riding-habit made its first appearance in the 
latter part of the reign of Charles II persisting through 
the period of Queen Anne, and we quote Addison's 
opinion of this fashion which he delivered in the follow- 
ing words: "Among the several female extravagances 
I have already taken notice of, there is one which still 
keeps its ground. I mean that of the ladies who dress 
themselves in a hat and feather, a riding-coat and a 
perriwig, or at least tie up their hair in a bag or ribbon, 
in imitation of the smart part of the opposite sex." 

And then he pictures the gentlemen's habit with his 
own personal reaction to it as follows: "His hair, 
well curled and powdered, hung to a considerable length 

251 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

on his shoulders, and was tied as if by the hand of his 
mistress with a scarlet ribband, which played like a 
streamer behind him; he had a coat and waistcoat of 
blue camlet trimmed and embroidered with silver, a 
cravat of the finest lace, and wore in a smart cock, 
a little beaver hat edged with silver, and made more 
sprightly by a feather. ... As I was pitying the 
luxury of this young person, who appeared to me to 
have been only educated as an object of sight, I per- 
ceived on my nearer approach, and as I turned my eye 
downward, a part of the equipage I had not observed 
before, which was a petticoat of the same as the coat and 
waistcoat." 

In the reign of George I Walpole says: "The habits of 
the times were shrunk into awkward coats and waist- 
coats for the men; and for the women, to tight-laced 
gowns, round hoops, and half-a-dozen squeezed plaits 
of linen, to which dangled behind two unmeaning pen- 
dants, called lappets, not half covering their sjtraight- 
drawn hair." Mary Margaret Egerton tells us that 
"the hoop now underwent many important changes," 
and that "the high-heeled shoes remained. Tight 
sleeves with full ruffles; small -pointed waists enclosed 
in whalebone; loose gowns called sacques; and cloaks 
with hoods named cardinals, were now la grande mode.'' 

Among gentlemen's costumes the most striking nov- 
elty of this time was the Ramilie tail, which was a 
plaited tail to the wig, with an immense bow at the top 
and a smaller one at the bottom. To Lord Bolingbroke 
the elegantes are indebted for the fashion of tying the 
hair, which hitherto had been formed into curls on the 
back of the neck. " Hats were of every shape. Nether 
252 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

garments were fastened below the knees, and the stock- 
ings no longer covered them." 

Sir Roger de Coverley once assured a young lady in 
riding-dress that he all but addressed her as *'Sir/' 
and a letter written in 1728 assures a friend that he, the 
writer, had almost wasted his gallantries upon a beau 
whom he had actually mistaken for "a lady in habit." 

Colours are described as ''very striking"; petticoats 
of black satin with bunches of flowers in bright colours, 
morning dresses of flowered yellow satin faced with 
cherry coloured bands; waistcoats of one colour and 
fringes and bands of another, bodices heavily embroid- 
ered in coloured flowers and many other striking and 
variegated effects seem to indicate the appreciation 
for sensation rather than taste. Many of these ideas 
will be recognized as having their origin in the Regency 
and the early Louis XV styles, but from all documentary 
evidence their choice and adaptation in England was 
generally foreign to the taste and feeling which created 
them. 

For convenience in picturing the second quarter of the 
century we associate it with the name of George II 
(1727 to 1760), whose temper, as an English historian 
has it, may be likened to ''that of a drill sergeant who 
believed himself master of his realm, while he repeated 
the lessons he had learnt from his wife." The same 
historian tells us that both his character, and that of 
George I "as nearly approached insignificance as it is 
possible for human character to approach it," which 
seems to indicate a type requiring some imagination 
on our part to conceive. And yet in spite of this the 
court is remembered (if we may believe the memoirs) 

253 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

for its wit and its feminine charm. In this is seen the 
general wave of cultivation that swept Europe at this 
time, was centred in France, and modified by the na- 
tional qualities or the prevailing state of mind in each 
country by which it was adopted. Its interest for us is 
found in just these individual differences in expressing 
the same general idea. 

It is a strange fact that in France since the days of 
Francis I (with the exception of the reign of Louis XIV 
and even then indirectly) fashion was dictated by the 
important court ladies in royal favour or seeking it. 
In Italy, after the decline was well under way, the inter- 
est of the men in costume seemed to increase as the 
process developed, and at least they were masters in 
their own realm and seem to have found their own ap- 
pearance of greater importance than anything else in life. 

England has always been a man's country. Appar- 
ently there has never been an exception to this even 
in the matter of personal adornment, but in this epoch 
French fashions seemed to be less at home on English 
gentlemen than they were at Versailles, and truth to 
tell the English selections do not seem always to have 
been made with the same intuitive taste then, as by 
their neighbours across the Channel. This adds to 
the amusement derived from the results as seen from 
an Anglo-Saxon point of view. 

One could as easily imagine an Englishman in the 
streets of to-day without a coat or boots, as without an 
umbrella. Rain or shine (and in London one always 
expects rain) the umbrella is his constant companion, 
though even so necessary an accessory was evidently a 
French fashion, and a hard struggle it had too before it 
254 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

gained general acceptance. It is related that one, 
Jonas Han way, in 1756 set the fashion, that up to 
then its use was confined exclusively to the female sex. 
Most amusing anecdotes are told of the experiences of 
those men who adopted this "effeminate fashion of 
the French." A certain John MacDonald, valet or 
footman in several noble families writes that, *'If it 
rained I wore my fine silk umbrella: then the people 
would call after me, *What, Frenchman, why do you 
not get a coach?'. . . but I went straight on and 
took no notice. 'I was going to dine in Norfolk Street 
on Sunday. It rained, my sister had hold of my arm 
and I had the umbrella over our heads. In Tavistock 
Street we met so many young men, calling after us, 
* Frenchman, take care of your umbrella. Frenchman, 
why do you not get a coach, monsieur .f^ ' " 

Calthrop's ''English Costume" takes a humorous 
view, beginning the discussion of this reign with a 
description of the vagaries and changes in wigs. He 
speaks of "a veritable confusion of barbers' enthusi- 
asms," and names for us such ones as " pigeon's-wing- 
wigs," "full-tails," "cauliflower," "staircase," "ladder," 
"bags," "drop-wigs," etc., each of which is expres- 
sive, if not as imaginative or as romantic as the 
names given these things by their French neighbours. 
The same writer tells of hats perched awry on the top 
of these piles, "broad brimmed, narrow brimmed, 
round, three cornered, high brimmed, low brimmed, 
turned high off forehead, turned low in front and high 
at the back — an endless crowd." Facts cease to be as 
astonishing or as amusing as our mental pictures of the 
English types that wore these things. 

255 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

In general we are told that gentlemen's coats grew 
fuller, until on the top it became a great spreading skirt 
just buttoned by one or two buttons at the waist, and 
here we stop to shiver at the thought of what may 
happen to our own '* young men's latest" belted, tight- 
waisted Empire looking coats seen in 1920. 

These coats were embroidered all over or laced, had 
huge cuffs, then small ones, so that by the middle of 
the century fashion changed so rapidly that "one knew 
the exact year of a coat he met in the street." This 
is too modern to record perhaps but "history repeats it- 
self" is no idle saying, sinceit really means that the 
fundamental impulses of man reassert themselves ever 
and anon, each in its turn so dominating his other im- 
pulses that he falls to expressing it as strongly as he can. 

Waistcoats were long, at one time nearly to the 
knees, fringed and flowered and open to show a velvet 
bow and lace cravat. Lace was worn at the wrists, and 
a snuff box in the hand was essential to perfect form. 
Every man of fashion carried a muff in winter, all sizes 
were worn from a huge one to a tiny one too small to be 
of any use. 

Not all men of all classes accepted the extremes in 
fashion for we find several authorities who insist that 
"a man's a man for all his tailor tells him he is a walking 
fashion plate," or that, "even the universal desire to 
dress up on the Queen's birthday did not affect the 
most serious minded" of the men. 

George Romney in Paris on his way to Genoa in 1773 
observes: "What with the French imitating us, and 
we them, the manners and dresses of the two great 
cities are brought pretty nearly up on a level. . . . 
256 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

The principal difference I have osberved in dress is, 
that the men, from the Prince to the valet de chambre 
wear muffs of enormous size slung round their waists. 
. . . I have not seen a woman's hat on, in any order 
of people. The English ladies dress with more ele- 
gance and greater variety and as to beauty and senti- 
ment, the French hold no comparison with them. 
. . . Everything must have the air of a dancer or 
actor, the colour of a painted beauty and the dress re- 
commended by the barber tailor and mantua maker." 
He speaks of the bad taste and the contempt in which 
they hold all things classic or standardized. This 
points out well the tendencies of the times in France, 
the greater individuality among English ladies and the 
excesses in frivolity and absurdity at the French court, 
but we remember it was the impression of an English 
gentleman of taste and refinement who never accepted 
or imitated French excesses, nor, probably, associated 
much with those who had. 

Speaking of the universal use of paint and powder 
a costume historian writes: "This fashion is not con- 
fined to the ladies, I am ashamed to tell you that we 
are indebted to Spanish wool for many of our masculine 
ruddy complexions. A pretty fellow lacquers his pale 
face with as many varnishes as a fine lady. Many of 
my readers will-, I dare say, be hardly persuaded that 
this custom could have ever prevailed as a branch of 
male foppery; but it is too notorious that our fine gen- 
tlemen, in various other instances besides the article of 
paint, affect the softness and delicacy of the fair sex. 
The male beauty has his washes, perfumes, and cos- 
metics, and takes as much pains to set a gloss on his 

257 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

complexion as the footman in japanning his shoes. He 
has his dressing-room, and (which is still more ridiculous) 
his toilet, too." 

During the early years of this reign ladies wore huge 
hoops, and a stiff formal skirt like a bell-balloon was 
worn over them. Square bodices laced and a necker- 
chief of linen were worn. Over and under sleeves were 
in fashion and a tucked or ruffled apron. Later on a 
sacque was adopted which hung loose from the shoul- 
ders. Shoe heels were very high, and the hair was tied 
in a knot behind, then puffed at the sides and powdered. 
Sometimes the hair was real and sometimes false. Lit- 
tle caps, small straw hats, and other small headgear 
were not unusual. 

In 1755 the one horse chairs, or cabriolets, came in 
from France, and the mania for original sensations was 
shown in the way even men embroidered these on their 
waistcoats, painted them on their socks and went so 
far as to cut out silk ones to use for face patches. Fin- 
ally these were exploited in head-dresses, when the 
extreme was reached. On the other hand native Eng- 
lish conservatism and dogged adherence to tradition 
even in all this orgy of decadence in clothes is very well 
and a musingly pictured by the conservative Scottish 
historian, Smollett, in his "Travels through France and 
Italy," published in 1766. He writes from Paris to a 
lady in England: "With respect to the ladies I can only 
judge from their exteriors; but indeed these are so char- 
acteristic that one can hardly judge amiss, unless we 
suppose that a woman of taste and sentiment may be 
so overruled by the absurdities of what is called fashion 
as to reject reason and dignified nature, in order to be- 
258 



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ABOUT 1770. COLONIAL. WIFE OF THE LAST ROYAL GOVERNOR OF 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. THE WAY OF DRESSING THE HAIR, THE RICH- 
NESS OF THE MATERIAL, AND THE CUT, SUGGEST FRENCH INFLUENCE, 
WHILE THE GENERAL MANNER IS ENGLISH. 




BEGINNING OF THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
ONE OF THE STYLES OF GEORGE III. THIS INTERESTING INTER- 
PRETATION IS STRICTLY ENGLISH IN FEELING. 




ABOUT 1770. ENGLISH. DISTINCTLY FRENCH INFLUENCE IN THE 
DRESSING OF THE HAIR. THE GOWN IS OF HEAVY BROCADE AND 
EXPRESSES A FASHION BOTH ENGLISH AND COLONIAL. 




NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY. ENGLISH. SIGNS OF THE STYLES BOTH OF LOUIS XV 
AND LOUIS XVI ARE EVIDENT HERE; BUT THEY ARE INTERPRETED, 
PARTICULARLY IN THE SKIRT, NECK, AND HAT, IN AN ENGLISH MAN- 
NER, OF EXQUISITE CHARM. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

come ridiculous or frightful. That this may be the 
case with some individuals is very possible. I have 
known it happen in our own country, where the follies 
of the French are adopted, and exhibited in the most 
awkward imitations, but the general prevalence of 
these preposterous modes is a plain proof that there is a 
general want of taste and a general depravity of nature 
in feelings. ... I will be bold to affirm that 
France is the general reservoir, from which all the ab- 
surdities of false taste, luxury, and extravagance have 
overflowed the different kingdoms and states of Europe. 
The springs that fill this reservoir are no other than 
vanity and ignorance." 

He concedes to the fair sex the possible right to re- 
sort to white and vermilion in extreme cases of old age 
or skin ruined by disease, ''but to lay it on as the fash- 
ion in France prescribes to all the ladies of condition 
. . . is to disgrace themselves in such a manner 
as to render them odious and detestable to every 
spectator." He decries the fact that no married lady 
may appear at court or other fashionable assembly 
without this horrible badge of indecency, so that the 
bourgeoisie dare not even attempt to break through 
this social barrier or distinction. For the ''vast load 
of frizzled false hair" resembling the "woolly heads of 
Guinea negroes" he has supreme contempt, and be- 
lieves it must be a borrowed custom from the Hotten- 
tots; and then he remarks, as if in sheer desperation: 
"When I see one of these fine creatures sailing along 
in her tawdry robes of silk and gauze, frilled and 
flounced and furbelowed, with her false books, her 
false jewels, her paint, her patches, and perfumes I 

259 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

cannot help looking upon her as the vilest piece of so- 
phistication that art has ever produced." This is 
decidedly taken from the viewpoint of England — 
individual, amusing, enlightening, and no doubt ex- 
pressive of quite a representative type of British mind, 
a part of which is the essence of Puritan early Colonial 
taste. 

Of their conversational powers he says that from 
the nursery they are encouraged to say everything 
uppermost in their minds, by which they acquire a 
volubility of tongue and a mass of set phrases called 
"polite conversation." Those who have no gover- 
nesses for this purpose, he says, are sent for a few years 
to a convent ''where they lay in a fund of superstition 
that serves them for life." He has never heard of the 
least opportunity for cultivating the mind, exercising 
the power of reason, or of imbibing a taste for letters or 
any other rational or useful accomplishment. From 
this state of things and the natural vanity of their tem- 
per, he concludes, "I should expect neither sense, sen- 
timent, nor discretion," and evidently he was not dis- 
appointed in his expectations. 

The long reign of George III from 1760 to 1820 offers 
so many subjects for discussion, political and social, 
that it is better for our purpose to think of this period 
only in terms of the second half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and to associate our mental pictures of the last 
two decades of the court at Versailles under Louis XV, 
and the same court in its changed aspect with Marie 
Antoinette as fashion's dictator to the ever-changing 
modes of England, whose muddle of fashions and ex- 
tremes of style were splendid evidence of the rapidity^ 
260 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

with which ideas were adopted, matured, and dropped, 
as the individuahsm of the nation dictated. 

Mrs. Piozzi in her ''Observations in a Journey 
through Italy," written in the last quarter of the cen- 
tury, seems to sense the true Italian qualities and to 
compare them successfully with English standards, and 
this comparison shows us the Italians and the English 
of the time from another point of view. She writes 
of the people of Milan: ''The mind of an Italian, 
whether man or woman, seldom fails for aught I see, 
to make up in extent what it wants in cultivation, and 
that they possess the art of pleasing in an eminent de- 
gree, the constancy with which they are mutually be- 
loved by each other is the best proof. Ladies of 
distinction bring with them when they marry, besides 
fortune, as many clothes as will last for seven years; 
for fashions do not change as often here as at London 
or Paris." 

She speaks of the devotion of children to their par- 
ents, the affectionate care of masters for their servants, 
and the respect of wives for their husbands that in Eng- 
land would be unknown. She tells how if there is con- 
jugal difficulty the wife is always protected by public 
sympathy, that even a mistress will not admit a hus- 
band's right to ill-treat his wife, and ends by saying: 
"National character is a great matter. I did not know 
there had been such a difference in the ways of thinking 
merely from customs and cliniate, as I see there is, 
although one has always read of it." Probably no 
observer has been much in these two countries without 
having inwardly, if not verbally, expressed the same 
sentiments, and marvelled the more. 

261 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

It is well at this point to recall the close association 
of England with the Colonies at the beginning of this 
reign and their political and commercial differences 
culminating at the beginning of the last quarter of the 
century. This second quarter of the century saw our 
strictest copying of English styles, and also the begin- 
ning of the decline, with the introduction of a strong 
French tendency followed up with great gusto by our 
aristocracy immediately after the Revolutionary War, 
and lasting for some time unabated. In reality this 
tendency has never ceased, it has only fluctuated from 
time to time, again appearing until, so far as costumes 
are concerned, there are not, and have not been for 
years, any other real criteria but the French. 

In the diversity of every detail of costume from 1750 
on, is seen a record of the growth of individual thought 
as it struggled for supremacy with the old monarchic 
tradition and the dictatorship of French fashions. At 
first the ''exquisite," the man about town, the gentleman, 
the tradesman, the court lady, the middle-class woman, 
and the wench of the orange-stand, each in his or her class 
vied with one another to express an individual concep- 
tion of the accepted class style in dress. Later in the 
period class lines were broken down, and we find an inter- 
relation of individual dress from class to class each ex- 
ploiting a ''new idea," and then an even greater indi- 
viduality which of course always means some queer 
results so far as art or the fitness of things are concerned. 

For instance the "exquisite" was seen in his frogged 
coat, fringed waistcoat, striped breeches, and a polled 
and powdered wig, the man about town in knee- 
breeches, skirted coat, silk waistcoat and an ordinary 
262 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

wig, while other distinguishing characteristics marked 
the class position of the individual. After the individ- 
ual idea reached its highest development came the reac- 
tion, about 1780, toward simpler and more functional 
types, and finally, after 1795, more formal fashions 
appeared which resulted in the Empire style. 

This period was indeed evolutionary, but revolu- 
tionary as well. Take for instance the various ways 
of dressing the hair, and their development until the 
apex of size, assortment, and absurdity was reached in 
1775, after which came its reclamation to sanity by 
1795, a matter of but twenty years. We find prints 
of ladies seated while the hair dresser climbed upon a 
ladder to reach the upper stories of this towering mass 
of hair, and the innumerable and unmentionable ac- 
cessories with which he strove to create a new and 
colossal piece of head architecture which would be more 
astonishing than any other. Documentary evidence 
gives him a record of perfect success. A certain writer 
says of the fashions in hair ornaments one year: "Be 
it remembered that in this year many ladies of fortune 
and fashion, willing to set an example of prudence and 
economy to their inferiors, did invent and make public 
without a patent, a machine for the head, in form of a 
post-chaise and horses, and another imitating a chair 
and chairmen, which were frequently worn by persons 
of distinction. : . . 

"Those heads which are not able to bear a coach and 
six (for vehicles of this sort are very apt to crack the 
brain) so far act consistently as to make use of a post- 
chariot, or a single-horse chaise with a beau perching 
in the middle. . . . The vehicle itself was con- 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

structed of gold threads, and was drawn by six dapple 
grays of blown glass, with a coachman, postilion, and 
gentleman within, of the same brittle manufacture." 

Fancy the change from the state of mind which pro- 
duced this, to that which accepted ringlets, or any of 
the simple fashions of the Directoire. The difference 
in attitude toward the gown was as remarkable; the 
coat in male attire from the skirted fantasies of the mid- 
century became the formal tail-coat of 1790, through 
quick but effective modifications in the mental attitude 
of England. The nation was becoming fatigued with 
incessant strivings to play the part of leading lady in a 
foreign drama with the inevitable result of proving 
to be either a clown or at best an unsuccessful under- 
study. The reaction in the early nineteenth century 
to the Empire style, and consequent return to her own 
manner of thinking, and therefore of expressing herself, 
during the rest of the century is another most interest- 
ing phenomenon of English psychology. 

In so far as the history of Colonial costumes is con- 
cerned, we make no attempt at completeness, nor even 
at logical sequence, since our selections for these are 
too well known or at least too easily accessible; be- 
sides, that is not our object even if space to do so were a 
physical possibility. It is rather to suggest points of 
relationship with England and France, and to visualize 
in a measure the psychology of our expression at that 
epoch, through this, finding the remoter causes of our 
present attitude to art, and to the general period ex- 
pressions of the maturer national lives from which we 
have sprung, that reference is made to Colonial life. 

We recall that in the first half of the seventeenth 
264 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

century our Colonial life was shaped by three quite 
diflferent types of people, all of them, however, with 
certain common instincts and practices, two of these 
having many things in common and the third showing 
similarity in most ways through different individual 
manifestations. The inherent belief in individual 
right to justice and freedom of thought and expression 
was a common inheritance, as indeed were the domestic 
ideals peculiarly Anglo-Saxon, or perhaps more defi- 
nitely northwestern European. The general quality 
of the aesthetic sense was somewhat ordinary, and 
religious tolerance was an avowed reason for coming 
to the new world. Just how this condition was ex- 
pressed in practice, how their ideals gave way gradually 
under the pressure of wealth, material success, and the 
reassertion of fundamental selfishness, vanity, and other 
elemental human instincts, is but another demonstra- 
tion of the fallibility of man, and of the truth that 
nothing is new under the sun. 

The southern colonists were in general, aristocratic, 
the younger sons of English peers, the not too success- 
ful relatives of wealthy noblemen, and later on, a smat- 
tering of poor debtors and other less desirable members 
of the "gentlemen class," with a few of the upper bour- 
geoisie. Their politics were mainly Tory, their re- 
ligions more or less coloured by the mental attitude of 
that body and they had a social ideal based on that of 
the country gentleman of England. This type natur- 
ally was in very close relation with the ideals, customs, 
and practices of the mother country, and from there 
came not only fashions, but most of the materials 
through which social life was expressed, either in the 

265 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

house or in the costumes of the time. This condition 
was made the more necessary and persisted the longer 
because of the development of social plantation life, 
and the non-development of the manufacturing idea. 
Besides this, communication with England was as 
easy as with the northern Colonies in the early days. 

The northern, or New England colonist, was made 
of sterner stuff. He, the left wing of English life, was 
a radical from the bourgeoisie and the trade classes 
mostly, his was the legacy of Puritanism. Determined 
in his ideals of government, simple and austere in his 
social customs, he braved the rigours of climate and the 
isolation of the new world, that the principles of in- 
dividualism, freedom, modesty, and humility might 
blossom and come into full fruition undisturbed. 
But even he, we find, remembered the witches not too 
kindly, saw to it that the Baptist brethren found a road 
to the "Providence Plantations" with some alacrity, 
and very early took to Mammon in various ways, so 
that one's belief in a new species of mind is, after all, 
almost destroyed. 

Environment at first prevented copying the mother 
country in a lavish manner, but by the first quarter of 
the eighteenth century the Puritan seems to have begun 
to serve God and Mammon with as loyal a devotion 
and as pronounced a success as his ancestors of the 
eleventh, fourteenth, or sixteenth centuries. 

A third type of mind is found in the Dutch who set- 
tled New York and its adjacent country. More clan- 
nish than either of the other two types, more prac- 
tically inclined, in general as domestic as either, with 
no definite cultural ideas and with but the rudiments of 
266 




BEGINNING OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
ENGLISH. WHILE IN GENERAL TERMS THIS WAS NOT OUT OF 
FASHION, IT IS SIMPLY, CONSISTENTLY, AND BECOMINGLY ADAPTED 
TO THE PERSONALITY OF THE WEARER. 




BEGINNING OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
COLONIAL. ONLY A REFLECTION OF ENGLISH FASHION OF THIS 
PERIOD IN MATERIAL, CUT, AND MANNER. 




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MIDDLE OF THE LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
ENGLISH. THIS LOVELY DUCHESS COULD ADOPT AND EXPRESS 
THE FASHIONS OF THE COURT AT VERSAILLES IN A MANNER BE- 
FITTING A GREAT LADY OF ANOTHER NATIONALITY, AND WITH 
PERSONAL TASTE. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

an aesthetic sense, he was either a good trader or a 
natural son of the soil. The former of these two types 
was the only one whose social life is any concern of 
ours here, and that concern is to remind us of his com- 
mercial activities in introducing us betimes to foreign 
products and inventions, and his introduction into 
our general consciousness of his sturdy and ''free from 
dirt" ideals. 

Of the late influx of still another English type under 
William Penn, of the Swedes in Delaware, the Germans 
and "Penn Dutch," we are mindful, but none of them 
materially influenced the general social life of the 
colonists before the Revolution, or for that matter 
after it. 

The early New England Puritan has been greatly 
idealized and as greatly maligned. True he was seri- 
ous, perhaps austere; he lived close to nature and 
thereby got hold probably of some of the fundamental 
things of life. Essentially he was English, however; 
even though he had spent some years in Holland, he 
was elementally of the same fibre as before this sojourn 
for his primeval instincts and native predilections 
were never stifled. The whole seventeenth century 
in England was very closely tied up with material 
evolution, or retrogression, as one looks at it. Its art 
was a record of its history. It is curious how closely 
allied are the great and the small things of life, and the 
clothes of our forbears were as closely related to their 
lives as were those of England at the same time. 

We do not find that less interest was taken in ap- 
parel, less care was given to personal appearance, nor 
that fewer attempts were made to outdo one's neigh- 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

hour during the early seventeenth century, than was 
the case in other places and at other times. 

Boston and Salem ladies in the latter part of the 
seventeenth century, however, were not troubled by 
yearly changes in fashion or by the spasmodic dictates 
of court or commercial life as to vogue. Such things 
were too far away. They were just nice ladies, with 
the same vanities and desires as other ladies, and al- 
though in 1670 one of them was likely to appear in the 
silk dress and fine lace of her grandmother, she wore 
it evidently in the same spirit and with the same 
satisfaction as have all other ladies, only she cherished 
the dress and other finery more dearly, and saw to it 
that it was still good enough to be passed down accord- 
ing to the thrifty custom. This is peculiarly enlight- 
ening as to our Puritan ancestors' habits of thrift as 
well as to their love for adornment. 

From the middle of the century on, there are docu- 
ments in great numbers recounting the extravagances 
(relatively it may be) of the wives of the Governors 
and other great folks. Inventories of wardrobes give 
article by article the English made garments carefully 
brought over and worn with as much satisfaction and 
grace as at home. We find relatives of these early 
colonists searching the shops in London for finery and 
not infrequently sending these same things with par- 
tially worn garments of their own "in token of deep 
affection." 

Hoods of silk and spotted gauze, embroidered and 
quilted petticoats in various colours, green silk gowns 
and many ribbands, violet coloured petticoats, gold 
and silver ortiaments and fine laces, silk flowered 
S68 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

Manto, muffs, a blue brocaded gown with silver trim- 
raings and even masks — ^which we find prohibited in 
Plymouth, Massachusetts, for their impropriety as 
early as 1650 — are mentioned over and over again. 
Not only is the most careful record of this finery made, 
but occasions are recorded of its use and abuse in 
abundance, and no doubt these were relatively as 
good reasons for the Puritan laws against ''unseemly 
extravagance and indecent display" as there ever 
were in the ups and downs of legislative sumptuosity 
prohibition. 

Virginian ladies of the seventeenth century differed 
little from the English in their costumes except that, 
being richer, they were better able to gratify their de- 
sire to shine and outshine. As they manufactured 
nothing in the South, all their finery was fresh from 
England, while in the North these importations were 
mixed with home production. A Mrs. Pritchard in 
1660 owned an olive coloured silk petticoat, another of 
silk tabby, and one of flowered tabby, one of velvet 
and one of white striped dimity. Her printed calico 
gown was lined with blue silk, thus proving how calico 
was valued. Other articles were a striped dimity jacket 
and a black silk waistcoat. To wear with these gar- 
ments there were a pair of scarlet sleeves, and other 
sleeves of ruffled holland. Five aprons and various 
neckwear of Flanders lace with several rich handker- 
chiefs completed a gay toilet, to which a pair of green 
stockings gave an additional touch of colour. 

A certain Mrs. Willoughby is credited with petti- 
coats of calico, striped linen, India silk, worsted prun- 
ella and red striped linen; red, blue, and black silk skirts 

269 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

were used with scarlet waistcoats and silver sleeves, a 
white knit waistcoat, a ''pair of red paragon bodices" 
and another pair of sky coloured satin bodices. This 
lady also had a striped stuff jacket, a worsted prunella 
mantle and a black gown with many other mantles, 
gowns, jackets, hoods, and aprons. These ladies evi- 
dently were not unlike others in the pioneer days of 
Colonial life, and like their humbler and outwardly 
more Puritanic sisters of the North, expressed in a re- 
flected manner as nearly as possible the costumes used 
in the social life of England in which they or their 
fathers formerly moved. 

The third type of early settler, the Dutch, left little 
that 'became a permanent part of Colonial costume. 
We all have our mental picture of the early Dutch 
lady, dressed no doubt in the full regalia of the Holland 
vrouw of that time, with plenty of bright coloured 
petticoats, a silk bodice, a silk samare perhaps embroid- 
ered or trimmed with coarse lace, extra lace or lawn 
sleeves, probably white stockings, a small cap and a 
bright coloured kerchief. Of one thing we may be 
certain — ^that all this was scrupulously clean, and that 
no cloth was wasted is equally certain, also that it 
probably never wore out. No thought of what would 
come next, or when the style would be changed dis- 
turbed the calm of stolid Dutch life. 

Of the ordinary Dutch housewife Washington Irv- 
ing says: ''Their hair untortured by the abominations 
of art, was scrupulously pomatumed back from their 
foreheads with a candle, and covered with a little cap 
of quilted calico which fitted exactly to their heads. 
Their petticoats of linsey woolsey were striped with a 
270 




ENGLISH. AT THE HEIGHT OF THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI IN 
FRANCE. A DECOROUS PERSONAL INTERPRETATION OF A FOR- 
EIGN FASHION IN FOREIGN MATERIAL ON A MODERN WOMAN. 




ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI, 
STRICTLY ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS. 



WITH 




ABOUT 1778. ENGLISH-AMERICAN. AN ENGLISH LADY, DONE 
BY AN AMERICAN PAINTER, IN THE COSTUME OF A SULTANA, A 
FASHION PREVAILING IN ENGLAND DURING THIS EPOCH. 



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ABOUT 1780. ENGLISH. THE REFLECTION OF THE FRENCH REVO- 
LUTION IN ENGLAND BROUGHT OUT MANY DELIGHTFULLY SIMPLE 
AND THOROUGHLY PRACTICAL FASHIONS FOR LADIES. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

variety of gorgeous dyes, though I must confess those 
gallant garments were rather short, scarce reaching 
below the knees; but then they made up in the number 
which generally equalled that of the gentlemen's small 
clothes, and what is still more praiseworthy they were 
all of their own manufacture, of which circumstance, as 
may well be supposed, they were not a little vain." 

Besides pockets they wore scissors and pincushions 
suspended from their girdles by red ribbons, or among 
the more opulent and showy classes, by brass and even 
silver chains. Irving speaks of the great pride in 
ownership of huge quantities of stockings and petticoats 
the number of which two things seems to have denoted 
the wealth of the heiress, as dollars do now, or as rein- 
deer skins might in the case of the belles of Lapland. 

Comparing New England and Dutch women at the 
beginning of the eighteenth century, a Boston lady who 
visited New York wrote home: ''The English go very 
fashionable in their dress. But the Dutch, especially 
the middle sort, differ from our women, in their habits 
go loose, wear French muches which are like a capp and 
head band in one, leaving their ears bare which are 
set out with jewels of a large size and many in number : 
and their fingers hooped with rings, some with large 
stones in them of many Coullers, as were their pendants 
in their ears, which you should see very old women 
wear as well as yt)ung." 

An inventory of one of these Dutch Colonial dames 
mentions : 

'* One petticoat with a body of red bay, 

'*One under petticoat, scarlet, 

"One petticoat, red cloth with black lace, 

271 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

''One striped stuff -petticoat, 
"2 coloured druggit petticoats with gray linings, 
"2 coloured druggit petticoats with white linings, 
''1 coloured druggit petticoat with pointed lace, 
" 1 ash gray silk petticoat with silk lining, 
" 1 black silk petticoat with ash gray lining, 
'' 1 fotto-foo silk petticoat with black silk lining, 
" 1 fotto-foo silk petticoat with taffeta lining." 
Dozens of stockings are given and only one bodice^, 
2 waistcoats, 5 caps, 3 night gowns, 2 pairs of sleeves 
and a few other articles in proportion. 

Such were the main lines of our inheritance at the 
beginning of the eighteenth century. The first and 
second of these types will concern us mainly from now 
on, the third being (except in isolated cases) of no great 
power or influence in forming social life outside of a 
very limited area, as they were the product, for the 
most part of customs with imported fashions and ma- 
terials with which to express them. 

Up to the eighteenth century then, we may almost 
say there was no distinct Colonial fashion except such 
as grew out of the conditions resulting from geographi- 
cal isolation, undeveloped resources, lack of importing 
facilities and of wealth with which to gratify natural 
human desires. The instinct for dress, the funda- 
mental desire for show and personal attraction were no 
different; the determination not to be outshone and the 
admiration for the latest and prettiest fashions from 
England were almost universal, and even where there 
was a pretence to plain living and an outward expres- 
sion of piety through its manifestation, the author fails 
to find any considerable number of instances of indi- 
272 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

viduals who resisted falling into the ways of the world 
at the first perfectly good opportunity. The few isola- 
ted instances are so small in number that *'the ex- 
ception proves the rule." 

As the eighteenth century advanced the Colonies 
naturally grew in wealth, their commerce (particularly 
with Britain) increased, and the awakening of a na- 
tional consciousness resulted. Still, however, regard- 
ing with respect the established modes of the mother 
country, they strove in every way to obtain through 
friends who were still in England, through colonists 
who visited the homeland, and through imported ideas 
in the shape of clothes, to imitate the fashions in a 
manner becoming their new ideal of national capability. 
This new national consciousness furnished a stimulus 
to common desires, and costumes waxed exceeding rich, 
varied, and showy. 

Some rather interesting peculiar customs and par- 
ticular types of dress may be mentioned at this point. 
The queerest of these customs was the one of ''Coming 
out Bride." In New England and in the other prov- 
inces where isolated plantation life did not forbid, it 
was the universal custom for a married couple to appear 
the first Sunday after the ceremony (and generally the 
four succeeding Sundays) at church, dressed in all the 
bridal finery they could get together. This of course 
stimulated a rivalry between families not likely to 
further the Puritan aim of modesty in appearance. 
Those who could afford it had four distinct sets of 
finery, one for each Sunday, that there might be no 
monotony for those who formed the audience. In 
many communities a pew was set apart into which the 

273 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

bridal pair was shown, so that the congregation knew 
just where to look for the objects of interest, thus avoid- 
ing our present difficulty of trying to locate the individ- 
ual and interesting objects of dress scattered throughout 
a large congregation. This evidently had its advantages. 
These selected seats were often in the gallery, some- 
times the front pews of the centre aisle, and at times 
in other prominent places. The couple generally ar- 
rived a bit late that the observers might all be seated 
before their arrival; then they walked slowly arm in 
arm to the assigned seats, while the entire congregation 
gave their hushed and respectful attention. At an 
appointed time, generally just before the sermon, the 
couple arose and turned slowly around two or three 
times that every angle of their appearance might be 
properly viewed; they then sat down while the sermon 
proceeded. For efficiency in matters of personal dis- 
play, and for isolating religious ceremonial from the 
weakness of the flesh, nothing has been invented to 
surpass this. The Abbe Robin writing at this time ex- 
pressed a belief that "Piety is not the only motive which 
induces American women to be constant in their at- 
tendance at church. Having no places of public amuse- 
ment, no fashionable promenades, they go to church to 
display their fine dress. They often appear there 
clothed in silks and covered with superb ornaments." 
A charitable Abbe this one, who however, had not lived 
through the first quarter of the twentieth century where 
there is no lack of amusement places or of opportunity to 
promenade, since the streets are taken over frequently 
for that sole purpose, and still we go to church for the 
same reasons as of old. 
274 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

Bridal dresses were of various colours and stufiPs, as 
exquisite as one could procure, we are told. A heavy- 
silk brocade was much in vogue, white, or white with a 
brocade pattern, being perhaps most in demand. Yel- 
low, blue, and pink brocades are often mentioned with 
gold and silk laces, and even feathers found their way 
into these costly wedding costumes. Bridal veils seem 
to have been unknown until the end of the century. 

About 1800 a Charleston, South Carolina, bride is 
thus described: "Miss Pell was married last week to 
Robert MacComb : they are making a prodigious dash. 
I went to pay the bride's visit on Friday; they had an 
elegant ball and supper in the evening, as it was the last 
day of seeing Company : seven bride's maids and seven 
bride's men, most superb dresses : the bride's pearls cost 
fifteen hundred dollars: they spend the winter in 
Charleston." Scores of documents are available giv- 
ing the trousseaux, the formalities and customs of these 
eighteenth century brides, betraying delightful varia- 
tions of the common charms and frailties of humanity 
and giving us an intimacy with one of the pleasant 
manifestations of our mid-colonial life. 

The universality of human desire for symbolic signs 
of private emotions is ever astounding. The emotion 
of grief at the loss of relatives and friends by death has 
found in dress a fertile field for expressing this desire. 
Black, death's particular emblem, has been used for 
this purpose certainly since the early part of the four- 
teenth century. Chaucer and Shakespeare give occa- 
sional allusions to its use, particularly in the case of 
the widow, although whole families accepted gratefully 
the privilege of keeping thus in touch with fashion. 

275 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Cut or style was called upon to serve this purpose, and 
at various times the bonnet, the veil, the gown, and the 
dressing of the neck and the hair have been indications, 
as indeed have the materials used in making the differ- 
ent articles which were the symbols. 

In some countries white, or other colours than black 
have been used, but in England and America black 
has been the rule, although we are told that Henry VIII 
wore white in mourning for his queen, Anne Boleyn, 
whom he beheaded. One chronicler suggested, however, 
that "scarlet would have been more suitable." 

This field of emotions seems to have been selected in 
the eighteenth century for fashion's particular develop- 
ment, for we find not only the sorrowing friends robed 
in black, but it was the custom to surround the mirrors 
and other household objects with black, to tie together 
the window shutters with black ribbon which was left 
on for months, and in England we read of black bed- 
hangings, and actually of a black bed which was loaned 
about from family to family in cases of deep affliction. 
Carriages were often draped in black for a period and 
the harnesses relieved of "shining metal." A bereaved 
husband, who by the way never re-married, ordered not 
only a full set of day mourning for himself but "black 
taffety night-cloathes, with black night-capps and black 
Comb and Brush and two black Sweet-bags and slippers 
of black velvet." 

A rather dreary picture is given of an old lady in black 
silk "night-cloathes," sitting up in a black draped bed 
in "solemn grief, yet resigned" while the members of 
the family including servants and friends passed slowly 
by in recognition of the "untimely end " of her husband. 
276 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

A still more curious custom was the giving away 
of black gloves to be worn no doubt "in memoriam." 
When Governor Belcher of Boston died in 1736, more 
than one thousand pairs were distributed, while at the 
funeral of Andrew Faneuil three thousand pairs were 
given away. Even lesser personages thought nothing 
of several hundred. 

Nothing, however, seems more incongruous and 
amazing than the fashion of mourning rings, which were 
often of great cost. At one Boston funeral more than 
two hundred were bestowed upon friends with such 
cheerful mottoes upon them as, ''Prepared be to follow 
me," and the like. All kinds of mourning jewellery was 
fashionable, particularly such as exposed a design made 
from the hair of the departed and where black enamel 
could also be used. These pieces included such articles 
as bracelets, pins, lockets, rings, and even earrings. 
Many of us have seen these objects amongst our own 
family heirlooms, as indeed we have the hair wreaths 
on the parlour walls. 

By 1770 national consciousness had so far developed 
as to affect considerably the copy of English fashions. 
Funeral gloves were stamped with the design of the 
"Liberty tree," and other such designs are found upon 
articles of dress, and in the handiwork of the ladies 
who kept sufficiently alive in "Sampler" form the art 
illusions of the epoch of Queen Anne. 

Before the days of bi-monthly fashion magazines and 
newspaper fashion plates, created for reproduction 
by bevies of "commercial-artist-dress-designers," a 
very charming way of spreading style was in vogue. 
France probably was the origin of this attractive cus- 

277 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

torn, since it is recorded that, charged to the French 
crown expenses in 1391 was a certain sum for a dressed 
doll sent to England's queen. In the late fifteenth 
century one was also sent to the queen of Henry VII, 
and others later to Italy and to Bavaria. We recall that 
it was the eighteenth century custom at Venice to ex- 
hibit a collection of these French dolls on Ascension 
Day, and that the custom brought out all the great 
ladies and their cicisbei to enjoy and no doubt to copy 
them. This custom obtained in the Colonies, and after 
the Revolution was very common, extending to styles 
in hair dressing, millinery, and the various arts of per- 
sonal adornment, until the invention of the pantine, 
a figure arranged in mechanical sections for strange 
antics, which became a plaything for the less serious 
men and women of France. This device also found 
its way into the States, along with the deluge of French 
ideas, immediately after the Revolution. 

Having just passed through the great world war, 
with its horrors, its contradictions, and its irreconcil- 
able poverty, privations, and depressions, with the vast 
wealth, extravagance, and wild sense enjoyments, it 
is not difficult to understand the conditions that ob- 
tained here during the period of our Revolution from 
1776 on. Particular mention is often made of the ef- 
fect on costumes brought about by the presence of 
English officers and their wives, and of the alacrity 
with which our belles at Philadelphia and Boston 
yielded active participation in the balls and other 
festivities prepared by the English army officers, and 
then strove to dress as they dictated and in such a man- 
ner as pleased these officers most. Naturally, the offi- 
278 




LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. COLONIAL. IT IS INTERESTING TO 
SEE IN THE HAIR-DRESSING THE FASHION OF VERSAILLES, IN THE 
COSTUME THAT OF ENGLAND WITH COLONIAL TASTE, BLENDED AND 
INTERPRETED BY A NATIVE WHO WAS THE WIFE OF THE SPANISH 
CHARGE d'affaires IN NEW YORK. 




LAST QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. THAT 
A GREAT PAINTER DELIGHTED TO NAME THIS LOVELY LITTLE THING 
"simplicity" is illuminating as TO THE THOUGHT OF THE TIME. 




INFLUENCE 



OF 



LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. THE 
THE DIRECTOIRE IN FRANCE STIMULATED THE INVENTION OF 
MANY SIMPLE AND INDIVIDUAL DESIGNS, PARTICULARLY IN ENG- 
LAND. 




AROUND 1795. ENGLISH. THIS SIMPLE, PRACTICAL, AND ADAP- 
TABLE COSTUME SHOWS THE INFLUENCE OF THE DIRECTOIRE. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

cers of the American army were not so well pleased at 
this, but no period is ever without its human weaknesses 
and the English uniform was more powerful than the 
patriotic idea in the arena of amusement or of fashion, 
and vast sums were spent by both men and women to 
delight the English eye, and to do honour to visiting 
rank and personal vanity, while the masses toiled and 
starved. 

We are assured that New York belles also had sev- 
eral years of opportunity, 'Ho flirt with gallant red- 
coats and to display their most modish gowns, and 
that several important marriages were the result of the 
flirtations and the gowns." 

A Philadelphia girl who came to New York for a visit 
in 1778 writes of social life there: ''You have no idea of 
the life of continued amusement I live in. I can scarce 
have a moment to myself. I have stole this while 
everybody is retired to dress for dinner. I am but just 
come from under Mr. J. Black's hands, and most ele- 
gantly dressed am I for a ball this evening at Smith's, 
where we have one every Thursday. . . . The 
dress is more ridiculous and pretty than anything I 
ever saw — a great quantity of different coloured 
feathers on the head at a time beside a thousand other 
things. The hair dressed very high, in the shape 
Miss Vining's was the night we returned from Smith's — 
the Hat we found: in your Mother's closet would be of a 
proper size. I have an afternoon cap with one wing, 
tho' I assure you I go less in the fashion than most of 
the ladies — ^not being dressed without a hoop." 

Another side to this situation is found in the presence 
in America of the French who had in reality become our 

279 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

allies. The visit of Rochambeau, for instance, and his 
collection of handsome Frenchmen, is said to have kept 
Newport in a round of gaiety never seen before. '' Amer- 
can officers and other gentry" followed the customs of 
the English and the French and a strife to excel both 
in personal adornment was developed by the time the 
inauguration of George Washington as president of the 
United States took place. In this effort they were not 
excelled even in England, and they strove also to emu- 
late in-so-far as was possible the court at Versailles. 

When the little necessities of life, such as pins for 
instance, were unobtainable, we read of extravagant 
scarlet cloaks, feathered top knots and of the quantities 
of gauze of the fortunate ones, while the fancy for 
being painted in portrait and in miniature never slack- 
ened for those who followed fashion's dictates. No 
doubt the individual mind will supply its own analo- 
gies between conditions, practices, and the personal 
qualities that produced these conditions during the great 
national struggle, and the incidents and general state 
of affairs as they have existed in the years from 1914 
to 1919 in the international state of war that we have 
just seen. The only great difference is in the magni- 
tude of the operations, and the limited privations en- 
dured in America as compared with other contesting 
countries. The general instincts, mind qualities and 
their manifestations are so similar, as to make us won- 
der exactly in what human evolution or progress consists. 

What was studied copy of England's fashions in the 
early part of the century, hectic adoption of both 
French and English styles during the period of 1760 
to 1780, became a full-flowered self assertive original 
280 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

or individual exploitation during the early days of 
our national life. Conceding this, still the centre of 
fashion was established in Paris in this epoch, from 
which position it has yet to be dislodged, although for 
some decades the conservative style for men has been 
avowedly of English origin. 

As early as 1784 John Adams was sent to London 
as our first ambassador to the court of St. James, and 
his wife writes him at that time: '*I am not a little 
surprised to find dress, unless on public occasions, so 
little regarded here. The gentlemen are very plainly 
dressed, the ladies much less so than with us. 'Tis 
true you must put a hoop on and have your hair 
dressed, but a common straw hat, no cap, with only a 
ribbon on the crown is thought sufficient dress to go into 
company. I have seen many ladies but not one ele- 
gant one since I came. There is not that neatness in 
their appearance which you see in our ladies." 

Great stress was laid on the cleanliness and the at- 
tention which was paid to details of dress, by all for- 
eign visitors, while the unheard of neatness of American 
women was the subject of much discussion abroad. 
Evidently some strictly American characteristics devel- 
oped among us early, as vouched for by a Hessian 
officer who says: ''The daughters keep up their stylish 
dressing because the mothers desire it. Should the 
mother die, her last words are to the effect that the 
daughter must retain control of the father's money- 
bags. Nearly all articles necessary for the adornment 
of the female sex are at present eithex very scarce or 
dear, and for this reason they are now wearing their 
Sunday finery." 

281 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

Benjamin Franklin, plain of manner and stupendous 
in mind, turned his energies toward abating this Ameri- 
can fury for display in costumes. He bade his own 
daughter give up feathers, and wear calico instead of 
silk. He advised Washington (who was inordinately 
fond of fine clothes) to be less extravagant and to use 
domestic materials. Count Rochambeau declared that 
"the wives of American merchants and bankers were 
clad to the top of French fashions." Another critic de- 
plores the spectacle of the women of a Republic sacri- 
ficing so much to trifles. He says: "At Mr. Griffin's 
house, at dinner, I saw seven or eight women, all dressed 
in great hats, plumes, etc. It was with pain that I re- 
marked much of pretension in some of these women; 
one acted the giddy, vivacious; another the woman of 
sentiment. This last had many pruderies and grim- 
aces. Two among them had their bosoms very naked. 
I was scandalized at this indecency among republicans." 

Of the richness of materials much is told. Brocades 
were in great demand, heavy, stiflF and strong in colour; 
one is described as being of pink ground-work with 
scarlet roses, green leaves, and brown stems; another as 
purple with gold and green brocaded flowers. Col- 
oured shoes were worn, green and purple being most 
often mentioned. In sooth no expression of eighteenth 
century social life was more manifestly a record of the 
social vanities, frivolities, and light-headed fripperies 
of human nature than was ours, the only noticeable 
difference between us and others being that we were 
yet young, less experienced than our older neighbours 
across the seas, and not able as yet to get in every 
instance quite the range of materials for exploiting 




ENGLlbH, AROUND 1790. THr. **mAi^i!. oTxi^e" FOR WOMEN WHEN 

THUS INTERPRETED AND WORN BROOKS NO CRITICISM. 




EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY. ENGLISH. THE EMPIRE STYLE 
OF FRANCE IS HERE GIVEN A BIT OF ENGLISH CONSERVATISM THAT 
ADDS NOT ONLY A NATIONAL FLAVOR, BUT A PRACTICAL SUGGES- 
TION. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: ENGLAND AND U. S. 

ourselves that was theirs. So far as ideals, inclinations, 
impulses, and performances are concerned, we seem to 
have measured to our new possibilities in our readiness 
to become fashion's followers and in our love of per- 
sonal display. This has been brought to a point which 
is quite appalling to those of us who were born and edu- 
cated with the point of view we imagined was that of 
our Puritan ancestors, our Quaker cousins of Phila- 
delphia, and perhaps even our more highly placed rela- 
tives of the Southern land. 



^83 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

CHARACTERISTIC NINETEENTH CEN- 
TURY STYLES 



THE last act of the stupendous drama of eighteenth 
century French Hfe began in the late autumn of 1795 
with the installation of the Directoire. This final 
act was, however, played in several scenes, the last of 
which culminated with the overthrow of the empire in 
1814. The period, therefore, may be said to be the 
first of the nineteenth century French styles, and 
because of its tremendous influence, the most important 
of all nineteenth century styles in Europe or elsewhere. 
This interesting and highly personal reaction centred 
around Napoleon Bonaparte, a man small of stature 
but mighty of will and possessed of colossal nerve. To 
comprehend the scope of the style, the sources of its 
motifs, the rapidity of its crystallization, the universal- 
ity of its adoption, and the individuality of its mani- 
festations, one must picture vividly not only the 
personal character of Napoleon and his family, but his 
activities in Italy and Egypt, his campaigns in eastern 
and central Europe and the close feeling of friendship 
existing at that time between the newly born United 
States of America and the French government. Let 
us recall in the briefest possible manner a few of these 
correlative facts. 
284 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

From March, 1796, to December, 1797, Napoleon was 
engaged in imposing his will upon northern Italy, 
Venice surrendering in 1797. On his return to Paris he 
was given one of the most remarkable demonstrations 
in history. The Directors arrayed as Roman sen- 
ators, with ambassadors, ministers, state officials, and 
a multitude of people with cannon, trumpets, and a 
great noise, proclaimed, "Bonaparte forever!" In 
1799 Rome was taken by the French and the aged 
Pope Pius VI, ordered to Paris, died en route. In 1798 
Napoleon started for Egypt. Malta delivered its 
keys to the Congress on the second of July, and Alex- 
andria fell the same day. On the twenty-fifth he entered 
Cairo, the city of the Pharoahs and the Pyramids. 

On November the ninth, 1799, this conqueror of 
Italy, Egypt, and Syria arrived for the second time in 
Paris, on this occasion affecting great personal humil- 
ity. Very soon after this the Directoire was over- 
thrown and the Consulate established. Napoleon being 
elected the First Consul on December the twenty- 
fourth, 1799, with almost absolute powers. On the 
nineteenth of February, 1800, the Consul took up 
quarters in the Tuilleries, and on the same day he 
married his sister Caroline to an innkeeper named 
Murat. This pair subsequently became King and 
Queen of Naples, their presence there assisting in the 
spread of the Empire style. 

The same year Napoleon went for the second time 
into Italy and by 1802 his conquest was complete. 
The Italians, for centuries oppressed by Spain and 
Austria, welcomed him as a deliverer, and in many 
ways he was one, for despite the complete subjection 

285 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

of the wills of the people to his own, the methods of 
subjection, often inhuman, the scandalous and per- 
fidious looting of public and private treasures of all 
sorts, he opened the eyes of Italy to a new and more 
virile order and aroused in them activities that by the 
third quarter of the century led to their complete 
independence and unification as a state. 

Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France the 
eighteenth of May, 1804, and the history of the next 
ten years shows the crystallization of a style im- 
perialistic, formal, mixed and varied in motifs, yet 
withal limited, often cold and clumsy, with here and 
there traces of charm and even chic, when interpreted 
for less imperial persons than the family of the Em- 
peror. In certain members of his family we have a 
particular interest. His sister Caroline we have al- 
ready mentioned; Joseph, his brother, afterward be- 
came King of Spain, while Eliza, finally married to 
Prince Bacciocchi, ruled Lucca and afterward Florence, 
and the lovely Pauline, wife of Prince Borghese of 
Rome, did perhaps more than any of the others to make 
the Empire style popular in Italy and to incite Italian 
inventiveness to exercise itself broadly in this new 
manner. 

Quantities of material, however, are to be found in 
and around Naples, Lucca, Florence, and of course, all 
through northern Italy, where complete surrender to 
the will of Napoleon made his word law and his choice 
in style theirs. We recall, too, that after the exile of 
Napoleon the ex-Empress Louise found permanent 
asylum at Parma, where the same style was further 
developed for several years. Hence it is that this 
286 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

style, French it is true, was undoubtedly worked out 
in greater detail and certainly in a more fascinating 
(because less grandiose) manner, in Italy. The in- 
vestigation and exploitation of this manner and also 
that of the earlier styles of Louis Quinze and Louis 
Seize are as yet in their inception. 

The association of France with the United States of 
America in the fitful days of 1776 and after, the 
influence of Lafayette and his countrymen on the im- 
pressionable mind of the new republic, with the adop- 
tion of the earlier French customs and styles during the 
presidency of Washington and his two successors, ex- 
plains the readiness of the so-called Colonial style, or 
more specifically the Georgian Colonial, to give way be- 
fore the popularity of the Empire as France again 
assumed, for the moment at least, the supreme dictator- 
ship of Christendom. 

The admiration of Napoleon for imperial Rome, the 
headlong enthusiasm of the French to do his bidding, the 
interest he excited in Egyptian art, the already per- 
functory classic wave of the Directoire and the passion 
for mahogany as well as Directoire costumes, furnished 
the inspiration for the fashions in this new style. The 
bourgeois taste of the imperial family, the extravagant 
and profligate squandering of money and the necessity 
for immediate and proper settings for this last act of the 
great drama, in part, at least, explain the amount and 
variety of the results, as well as the bad taste of much 
of it. The artistic sense of many of the artist crafts- 
men, the remoteness of outlying provinces from Paris, 
and the inheritance of the people, fully account for 
whatever charm there is in it. 

287 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

The spirit, or atmosphere of this period is most com- 
plex; its mixture of refinement and grossness, its 
autocratic dictatorship and its individual assertiveness, 
of hectic intrigue and childish naivete, of dissolute 
abandon and moral pretence struggling with countless 
traditions of the monarchic regime, the new freedom 
and the absolutism of a new order of humble foreign 
provincial origin, unacquainted with power, position or 
the ordinary amenities of life as viewed by the most 
insignificant members of old social France; such was 
the melee of influences, traditions, and aspirations out 
of which the new order was to grow. 

Of Napoleon's life and qualities we need not speak. 
There is no one without his own particular mental 
image of the man, determined by the angle of vision 
from which he has made his acquaintance, or by the 
prejudices of religious, political, or social tradition. 

With the practical qualities of common sense and 
unchangeable determination, an ideal of comfortable, 
respectable, and clannish domestic life and an ambition 
for the family that knew no limit, Mme. Letizia Bona- 
parte, the mother of Napoleon, exercised no little 
power in determining the course of events in the social 
world. To originate customs or to invent styles was 
not for her, but the influence she always held over every 
member of her family, not excepting Napoleon himself, 
the carefully planned family marriage relations and her 
own determined conservatism, undoubtedly made her 
life a contributing factor on the side of decency and 
restraint in court life. 

Napoleon's marriage in 1796 to the thirty-four 
year old widow, Josephine Beauharnais, with two 
288 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

nearly grown-up children, was almost too much for 
Madame Letizia to bear. To him the entire family- 
looked for money with which to be comfortable, for 
such social preferment as would make it possible for 
the remaining members to marry outside the innkeeper 
and soapboiler class, and for such military connections 
as would ensure respectable positions to as many of the 
relations as were yet unprovided for. Besides this, 
Josephine was a semi-aristocrat, a relic of the old re- 
gime of balls, fetes, and flirtations; with easy morals, 
not spotless of reputation, extravagant, having ex- 
pensive tastes, elegant, polished, and, moreover, prac- 
tised in all the arts of social deception. Such was the 
picture painted by Madame Letizia, and her con- 
clusions were thoroughly impressed upon each member 
of the family, before they had ever even seen the 
contestant for the honour which belonged alone, in 
Letizia's opinion, to the little Corsican group. The 
intense hatred thus begun lasted with Madame Bona- 
parte, except at intervals, until the despised intruder 
was divorced by the Emperor in 1810 to make room 
for Maria Louisa, Archduchess of Austria, of the most 
ancient house in Europe, that he might through this 
union fittingly perpetuate his race and throne in a son 
and heir. 

In considering the establishment of the empire the 
influence both of Josephine and the Austrian must be 
reckoned with, particularly as it relates to costume, 
since each strove to express a type of royal taste quite 
unlike the other and still more unlike that of Madame 
Bonaparte or her newly promoted queen, princess and 
duchess daughters. Besides all this, there was the 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

taste of the recently elevated military social group seek- 
ing to express to the world in no uncertain terms both 
their new importance and their joy in its possession, 
without delay. Remnants of the old taste, too, lingered 
in various ways and must be expressed even if it had to 
be in entirely new forms and under dictated conditions. 

While the Tuileries and Saint Cloud were the 
centres of fashion for the court, Napoleon was no less 
active at Versailles, Fontainebleau, Compiegne, and 
other centres where the new royal taste was imposed 
upon the old order in such manner as to make the 
decorative mantle appear to be the entire structural 
body, hence the peculiar spectacle sometimes found in 
palaces and public buildings redecorated during this 
epoch. 

The extraordinary ego of Napoleon was best gratified 
by a gorgeous and splendid display. He left no device 
untried to develop, overnight, a proper sumptuous 
magnificence with which to surround his royal person 
and those of his favourites. He wished his entourage 
to be pompous and splendid and extended his orders 
even to the dictation of the costumes of the ladies of 
his court. To Madame la Marechale he once said: 
''Your cloak is superb; I have seen it a good many 
times." She was duly flattered, we are told, but took 
the hint. In fact, brief as it was, the court of Napoleon 
was the most gorgeously sumptuous and profligately 
extravagant of any of the long list of theatrical settings 
for the great monarchs of France. Empress Josephine 
led the court in taste and in the splendour of her 
apparel. The following is a translation of a description 
of one of her robes: 
290 




A QUAINT AND FASCINATING DIRECTOIRE CREATION OF THE LAST 
DAYS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS 
IN DETAILS THAT PERSISTED THROUGH THE EMPIRE. 




THE SPIRIT OF THE EMPIRE, THE QUALITY OF ITS SETTING AND THE 
FASHIONABLE "WHITE ROBE" WITH OTHER ROYAL TRAPPINGS 
APPEAR IN THIS PORTRAIT OF MME. L^TITIA BONAPARTE, THE 
MOTHER OF THE EMPEROR. 




THE QUEEN OF NAPLES NO DOUBT DICTATED THE FASHIONS FOR 
HER COURT BOTH IN SETTING AND IN COSTUME. ATTENTION IS 
DIRECTED TO THE QUAINT CHARM OF THE CHILDREN AND THE KIND 
OF SHOES WORN BY THE QUEEN. 




THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE PRINCESS PAULINE AND THE REMARK- 
ABLY EXPRESSED HARMONY BETWEEN HER TYPE AND THE QUALITY 
OF HER TOILET IS WELL SHOWN. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

"The toilette of the Empress was admirable in its 
good taste and freshness; she wore a gown of India 
muslin, one of those muslins that one might call a 
tissue of air, which, however, notwithstanding the 
fineness of its texture, was embroidered with a design 
in relief of a sprinkling of small stars, the centre of 
which was filled with needle point lace. The gown was 
high necked and shaped like a redingote; all around it 
was a magnificent piece of point d' Angleterre two hands 
wide and shirred on full; this was also on the neck and 
the front of the gown; at regular intervals were knots of 
blue satin ribbon, so fresh, of so pure a hue, turquoise 
blue, that nothing so charming was ever seen; the 
underskirt was satin of the same blue as the ribbons; 
on her head the Empress wore a bonnet the trimming 
of which was point d' Angleterre of the same design, but 
finer yet than that on the gown, and it was gracefully 
posed and separated by tufts of blue ribbon." 

Besides assuming control of the toilet of the court 
ladies the Emperor dictated a costume for the gentle- 
men. It was an embroidered coat with ruffles and 
short frills in point d' Angleterre, Powder was omitted 
and the hair cut short, similar to the modern fashion. 

Lady Morgan has given us an amusing account of her 
call on the Duchesse de Berri, evidently for the in- 
spection of her wardrobe. She says: *'At last after 
two full hours' jefforts, and more suffering from heat 
and apprehension than I ever endured, we passed the 
last barrier, and arrived at the palladium of the royal 
toilette. A long suite of beautiful rooms were thrown 
open, whose lofty walls were thickly covered with 
robes of every hue, tint, web and texture, from the 

291 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

imperial drapery of coronation splendour, to the simple 
robe de chambre of British lace and British muslin; 
from the diamond coronet to the bonnet de nuit; while 
platforms or counters, surrounding each room, were 
guarded off from the unhallowed touch of plebeian 
curiosity by silken cords, and placed under the sur- 
veillance of the priests and priestesses of the toilette, 
in grand pontificals. These formed the sanctuary of 
all the minor attributes of the royal wardrobe. Every 
article of female dress, from the most necessary to the 
most superfluous, was here arranged, not by dozens 
but by hundreds. Here the Queen of Sheba might 
have died of envy; here the treasures of the * forty 
thieves,' or the 'cave of Baba Abdalla,' were rivalled 
or surpassed, not only in splendour but extent." 

Soon great balls and receptions came again into 
fashion, ofiicial in character, requiring magnificent 
costumes. This soon crystallized the rather simple 
(by comparison) modes of the period. 

Perhaps the most noticeable characteristic of wom- 
an's apparel was the high waist line established 
by the Directoire and persisting through the Empire. 
The waist is spoken of as close up under the arms, 
"with the bosom pushed up to the chin by ugly stays 
only becoming to ladies perfectly beautiful in the first 
place." 

White gowns were the most fashionable, trans- 
parent ones universal. These were trimmed with 
ribbons and wreaths of flowers. The arms were bare 
except for long white gloves. Necklaces of pearls, hair 
in curls and roses on the head are often found in des- 
criptions of the costumes of the day, as indeed are 

292 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

cap-bonnets trimmed with feathers and tied under 
the chin with silk strings. They wore velvet, cloth or 
merino coats with short waists but higher necks, for 
all gowns were *' indecently low." 

The fashion of wearing false fronts was generally 
adopted, and diamonds were the chief head decoration, 
supplanting flowers, which were used in the Directoire. 
It was in this period that artificial flowers became a 
definite and important accessory of the feminine toilet, 
a fashion which has persisted in various aggravated 
forms and with different interpretations to this day. 

About 1807 the influence of the classic was very 
powerful. Mme. de Stael, her novel, ''Corinne," and 
other influences turned the thoughts of the fair sex into 
a different channel, possibly for variety in experience, 
until it became the fashion not only to assume the look 
of having been born again into a classic state of mind, 
in a classic environment, but to set this pose in flutter- 
ing scarfs and diaphanous gowns. This influence per- 
sisted throughout the period. 

One very important and almost universal innovation 
was the Cashmere shawl. A few of them had been sent 
from the the Orient to Louis XVI, but at this time they 
came in enormous numbers and found such favour that 
the foreseeing French secured the goats, of whose hair 
the cashmere was made, and distributed them through 
their southern provinces. Very soon they dared the 
actual manufacture of these shawls and still later be- 
came eminently successful in the process. There have 
been at least two revivals of this fashion in the later 
nineteenth century. 

This important style, developed under Napoleon, 

293 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

subject to classic influence, was no doubt neglected In 
the last quarter of the century (during the period of our 
awakening to the fact that we had an aesthetic sense) 
as we marvelled at and tried to copy and to use the 
fashions of the more obvious and more highly orna- 
mental periods that preceded. Since, however, it was 
the end of aesthetic expression for a century, it is to 
our quickened sense a very important milestone, 
which we must really make our starting point if we are 
to continue now the art ideals of the classic period, the 
Renaissance and the eighteenth century. These are 
in reality the rock-bottom of our civilization as it has 
been expressed up to this time, the seventeenth century 
of materialism having been repeated in another form 
of scientific commercial development during the nine- 
teenth century. This recurrence of the classic spirit 
and of the ideal of pure materialism (practically un- 
modified by aesthetic appeal) is a matter of his- 
tory, and seems to point to the beginning of a new 
era, which Is the most encouraging thing in sight at 
present. 

The restoration of the monarchy under Louis XVIII 
In 1814, and Its continuance under Charles X until 
1830, may be taken as one epoch, with England under 
George IV, from 1820 to 1830, considered at the same 
time; for this period really represents the first epoch of 
civilization's return to seventeenth century material 
aims, in which some other idea than culture or art was 
to function for a century or more, and In which neither 
costumes nor the other arts can be said to be aestheti- 
cally expressed, the best that can be said being that 
they are sometimes quaint or interesting in their 
294 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

peculiarities. Yet they are always a sincere record of 
the state of mind of the public at the time they were 
created. 

At the beginning of this period the allied armies were 
in France, and one historian particularly upbraids the 
women of Paris for their lack of loyalty, accusing them 
of copying most of the details of their dress from that of 
the Poles, Germans, Russians, and English. 

With this regime, back to France swarmed the noble 
ladies who had fled the Revolution and the wreckage 
of the Empire. They assisted in this new order by 
repudiating everything in fashion that smacked in the 
least of the Directoire or of the Empire. The old 
order thronged the Tuileries, extravagance was rife 
and the intense craving for dress soon established in 
Paris four very noted ladies' tailors, thirteen milliners 
in large establishments, seven large florists, three 
special stay makers, eight famous dressmakers and 
eight fine ladies' shoemakers. These all catered to the 
new order, thus reviving trade and stimulating personal 
endeavour. 

The dresses of this epoch were made in many styles or 
cuts; sleeves were sometimes short, rufiled or puffed 
and sometimes long, shaped like a funnel with the 
large end at the shoulder. Some necks were cut low 
and necklaces were worn, others were cut high and 
trimmed with various ornaments. With short sleeves 
long gloves were essentials. Married women wore 
small neckerchiefs and young women, white apron 
dresses. The hair was usually curled and artificial 
flowers again became popular as decorations for the 
head. Bonnets were generally worn pushed over the 

295 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

face, toques were also popular. These were trimmed 
with artificial flowers and sometimes with white 
feathers. White was worn by every one in the evening 
and white merino with silver stripes was a popular 
material. White shoes were a la mode. We are not 
told, however, that these appeared with dark or black 
dress skirts and coloured stockings in muddy streets 
as is our custom to-day. 

One of the curious things was the Anglo-mania of 
1816 and 1817. An amusing cartoon is shown of a 
French lady trying to force her daughter to dress in 
English style, while the girl is made to say : " Gracious ! 
how frightful! What dreadful taste! To think of 
wearing English fashions!" Nevertheless the fashion 
prevailed and we find the ladies in English straw bon- 
nets with green gauze veils. They wore "spencers" 
also, a garment that looked like a jacket with the skirt 
cut off below the waist line. These were of rep, 
velvet or satin, in any and every colour. Kerseymere 
coats too, were worn, with double collars. There were 
also silk wadded gowns, which they called ''douil- 
lettes." 

A people whose taste is innate cannot lay it by at 
will. In spite of the disorganized conditions existing 
at this time, we conclude from the documents avail- 
able (and they are many) that this period retained, not- 
withstanding its varieties and absurdities, much real 
charm, and gave expression very often to a rare amount 
of taste as compared with any other country at the 
same time. 

Unfortunately they seem to have had two besetting 
sins, the indulgence of which brought down upon the 
296 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

heads of the guilty the wrath of the just, the satire of 
the learned and the ire of the king, Charles X. The 
first was the use and abuse of "stays." They became 
so important that large sums were spent in procuring 
these most "effective and harmful" adjuncts to a 
lady's toilet. Rousseau wrote that the limbs should 
be free to move under the garments that covered them, 
and that the body should not be hampered in its 
natural movements by such trumpery. He was laughed 
at, they say, and more steel busks were added to the 
stays. A celebrated physician is quoted as having 
experimented with them and proved, of course, that 
there was grave danger of attracting electricity to that 
part of the body, thus causing a dangerous irritation. 
Stays grew in popularity none the less. Charles X 
then laid siege to this fashion, declaring: "Formerly 
it was not uncommon to see Dianas, Venuses or Niobes 
in France, but now we see nothing but wasps." Still 
there was no falling off in the vogue of stays. Fashions 
generally come to stay until some others of a like 
character come to displace them. So far it has not 
been recorded that any earthly power, or even the edict 
of holy church has been able to usurp or supplant the 
power of fashion, until it has run its course. 

The second fashionable sin was the "mutton leg" 
sleeve. It came into being in 1820 and in a short time 
reached such a size that a woman could only pass 
through an ordinary door sideways. Every article of 
dress was subordinated to this strange creation, and 
they were made the more realistic by being stuffed 
with down and held in place by wires, so that they 
could in no wise be overlooked. 

297 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

We sometimes think that we hold the record in these 
days for absurd colours, but we find in 1830 such 
colours as Ipsiboe, Trocadero, bronze, smoke, Nile- 
water, solitary, reed, mignonette-seed, amorous-toad, 
frightened-mouse, spider-meditating-crime, and many 
others, all of which leads us to modify our opinion of 
our supremacy and to return the palm to France even 
in this matter. 

There was a queer custom of naming materials and 
cuts of gowns for animals or plays. For example, the 
giraflfe appeared in Paris in 1827 for the first time. 
Everybody went to see him and immediately there 
appeared gowns a la giraffe, bonnets a la giraffe, sashes 
a la giraffe; and there was a new material called "Jocko's 
last breath" brought out at once after the death of a 
chimpanzee of that name. 

The bourgeoisie showed more vanity in their dress 
and were more picturesque than their more fortunate 
sisters. It is said that every woman in business 
adopted a costume expressing her particular work and 
station in life, with ''exceeding great success," so that 
the lemonade seller was as great a creation of the 
costumier and hairdresser as was any illustrious per- 
sonage. 

Individualism in France and the rise of the bour- 
geoisie to positions of prominence in fashion is mildly 
expressed, however, when compared with the same 
period, that of George IV, from 1820 to 1830, in Eng- 
land. Calthrop says of this period in England ; " Nowa- 
days to be dressed well is not always to be well dressed. 
Often it is far from it. The question of modern clothes 
is one of great perplexity. It seems that what is beauty 
298 




RICHNESS AND THE ITALIAN INTERPRETATION OF NAPOLEON S COS- 
TUMES FOR MEN SEEM WELL EXEMPLIFIED IN THE PORTRAIT OF 
PRINCE BORGHESE, HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. 




ROYAL AUSTRIAN TASTE IS HERE COUPLED WITH FRENCH EMPIRE 
POSSIBILITIES IN THE COSTUME OF EMPRESS LOUISE. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

one year may be the abomination of desolation the 
next, because the trick of that beauty has beqome com- 
mon property. You puff your hair at the sides, you 
are in the true sanctum of the mode: you puff your 
hair at the sides, you are forever utterly cast out. As 
we have no understanding I shall not attempt to ex- 
plain it: it passes beyond the realms of explanation 
into the pure air of truth. The truth is simple. Aristoc- 
racy being no longer real, but only a cult, one is 
afraid of one's servants. Your servant puffs her hair at 
the sides, and hang it! She becomes exactly like an 
aristocrat." 

This individual triumph of the proletariat over the 
aristocracy is worth remembering for comparison later. 

"The dressy person and the person who is well 
dressed, these two are showing everywhere. The one is a 
screaming hue of woad, the other a quiet note of blue dye : 
the one in excessive velvet sleeves that he cannot manage, 
the other controlling a rich amplitude of material with 
perfect grace. Here a lirripipe is extravagantly long; 
here a gold circlet decorates curled locks with match- 
less taste. Everywhere the battle between taste and 
gaudiness. High hennins, steeples of millinery stick up 
out of the crowd; below these the towers of powdered 
hair bow and sway as the fine ladies patter along. 
What a rustle and a bustle of silks and satins, of 
flowered tabbies, rich brocades, cut velvets, superfine 
clothes, woollens, cloth of gold!" 

He then goes on to describe the endless individual 
ideas representing all periods gone before and all im- 
aginable new ones and adaptations of the old, — no law 
no order, no one to follow etc., bad taste constantly 

299 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

developing and good taste being crushed, with no one 
to object or to dictate. 

This points clearly to the complete triumph of the 
individual idea of the eighteenth century and to the 
final downfall of autocratic royal dictation in matters of 
dress as in matters of religion, state, or public morals. 
This condition, as it always has, released the imagina- 
tion, the instinctive desires, and the creative powers of 
the queer and the undeveloped, for strivings are duly 
recorded in what they did, hence the medley of costumes 
with and without taste as well as with and without 
sense or reason, the first mentioned quality often 
redeeming and making a delight of the creations of 
earlier periods, even where sense and reason seemed to 
be entirely missing. 

Fashion seems always to be making new demands on 
her slaves and they seem ready to obey her mandates, 
no matter to what they may lead. 

The ''leg of mutton" sleeve furnished the chief 
novelty to be exploited in the days of Charles X, but at 
the time of the accession of Louis Philippe in 1830 the 
rage for it was spent and other details or adjuncts of 
dress were seized upon in order to tempt the female 
heart, although in the basic essentials of dress there was 
little change. The huge bonnets known as the cabriolet 
gave way to tiny caps called by fancy names, such as 
Charlotte Corday, the peasant, the nun, the Elizabeth, 
the chatelaine, etc. The nets worn were a la Napol- 
itaine^ "steeplechase rosettes" below the ears, Algerian 
head-dresses, Armenian toques, and white and gold 
Jewish turbans with strings, a la Rachel, Many 
novelties in colour appeared also. 
300 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

Here, too, began the ''anti-healthy" fashion, which 
reached us in the early 'sixties. Suffering, self sacrifice, 
and personal devotion were the favourite topics of the 
day. To weep was adorable, to faint commendable, and 
to look wan and anaemic ultra-fashionable. Young 
girls dreaded nothing like healthy rosy cheeks. "It 
was so common," they said. They strove by every 
means sentimentally to eliminate the material, even by 
starvation, a mawkish imitation of mediaeval idealism. 

These were the days of Victor Hugo and Lamartine. 
The reading of Scott's novels and Byron's poems were 
among society's favourite pastimes. The romantic 
school was at its height and many a fashion in dress 
harked back to mediaeval sources. The rich bour- 
geoisie wore long trains, heavy necklaces, long hanging 
sleeves, alms-bags dangling from their waists and heavy 
carved jewellery They moved about with the assured 
air of thirteenth century ladies. 

The populace was enamoured of the theatre. They 
flocked to the French and Italian opera houses, the 
Opera Comique, the Theatre Frangais and the others of 
the boulevards. Here they found the sentimental and 
romantic heroines who gave the tone to fashion, pro- 
viding something new and thrilling. These women 
were copied regardless, apparently, of their suitability, 
for a historian writes of a beautiful, sweet, and gentle 
girl who dressed like the notorious infanticide. Norma, 
while the best of ladies aped the style of the arch- 
poisoner, the Marquise de Brinvilliers. 

Historic characters, from Charlemagne to Mary 
Stuart, and from Isabella Gonzaga to Charlotte Corday 
furnished the accepted costume for balls, fetes, and 

301 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

grand receptions. The Greek and Roman styles of the 
earher days were replaced by those of the Middle Ages 
and of the Renaissance. 

In the latter part of the reign the nobility reacted to 
the influence of the great tragedian Rachel, whose work 
in reviving such classic characters as Electra, Hermione, 
Monima, Roxana, Paulina, Agrippina, and Phaedra, so 
fired the great ladies with enthusiasm that they sought 
to imitate not only the actress herself but her idiosyn- 
crasies in dress and those of as many of her characters 
as time would permit. This classic reaction did not 
touch the bourgeoisie, however. 

The whole spirit of the epoch is one of hectic striving 
for novelty and sensation, changing from month to 
month and even from day to day, as whim or fancy 
dictated. This universal instability gave fashion lati- 
tude to do her worst, preventing the crystallization of 
any mode or style of sufficient merit, or definite enough, 
to be classed as a historic period. 

Materials new and varied appeared constantly, as did 
new colours and new fashions in design. The materials, 
legion in number, were called by such names as Polar- 
star, blossoming camelia, Palmyrienne, Benvenuto 
Cellini blue velvet, Medici and Louis XV satins, tulle 
illusion, Rachel crepe, a tissue called fil de la Vierge, and 
many others. This field, like that of design, seems to 
have been exhausted just before 1850 and we read of a 
reaction from the romantic school to the school of 
"good sense" near the end of the period. To us this 
phase of the period is not clearly enough defined in its 
documentary evidence to warrant an assured belief in 
its existence. 
302 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

Perhaps no better or more appropriate time will come 
for establishing a connection in our minds between 
these unsettled and fluctuating styles of mid-nineteenth 
century France and those of England. The fashions of 
the period of George IV were followed by no changes or 
additions of note during the brief reign of William IV, 
1830 to 1837, but with the latter date we associate the 
beginning of that long and dull epoch of domestic 
tranquillity and phlegmatic sentimentality known as 
the "Victorian Period," with the reflex of which we are 
so familiar in our own land, as it appeared in the youth 
of our immediate ancestors. While not desiring to 
treat this subject in its entirety, it is necessary to think 
of it in its relation to the period of Louis Philippe, of 
the short second Republic, and of the Restoration 
under Napoleon III, 1852 to 1870. 

By comparing the past and the present it appears to 
us that the Victorian era may justly be classed as a 
period of unusually dull and sentimental materialism. 
It was moral but soggy. Imagination and the sense of 
humour were suppressed under routine, form, a heavy 
seriousness and a rigorous complacency. People and 
furniture were alike completely, properly, and similarly 
upholstered. Carping critics, tiresome moralists, domes- 
tic philosophers, and shocked and fainting women were 
the vogue. Proportion, where any was left, gave place 
to bulk and stability. Decoration was lost in aggrega- 
tion.' Brocades and taffetas were supplanted by hair- 
cloth and plush, lace and gauze by chenille fringe and 
hand knit tidies, while a perfect system of German 
housewifery was adopted, assimilated, and expressed in 
national perfection. Never since the creation of man 

303 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

has life been more devoid of grace and never was taste 
at a lower ebb. 

There was much intellectual activity, however, and 
domestic economy flourished, as their record in litera- 
ture and national expression proves, though there ap- 
pears to have been a total annihilation of the art sense 
and of the charm that is born of the social graces. So 
far as details of costume are concerned during this 
period, at court they were in '* perfect form" and in 
ordinary life they were *' proper." It is rather to call 
this period to mind, to acknowledge its aims and its 
achievements, and to see anew its results in art through a 
knowledge of the qualities most active, and of those 
most dominant or most stifled, that it is correlated here 
with the corresponding styles in France and America. 
Having done this, let us return to the period of Louis 
Philippe and of the Second Empire, for Paris was then, 
as ever, the seat of fashion, and so far as this invincible 
goddess wielded conscious power, it came from France. 
In so far too, as the art quality was active it had no 
other asylum than in the minds of the French, who, in 
spite of revolutions, cataclysms and catastrophies were 
never entirely without it. 

It was in 1852 that Napoleon III was seated on the 
throne and the second Empire began. The style, 
developed from this date to 1870 and known as the 
Second Empire style, is the last of the monarchic styles 
of France and indeed of modern life so far as our civiliza- 
tion is concerned. The marriage of the Emperor with 
the Spaniard, Eugenie, resulted in the establishment at 
the Tuileries of a new and positive dictation of customs 
and of fashions, which had for its aim, so far as possible, 
304 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

to organize and promote another court life akin to that 
of the First Empire, though in reahty its ultimate goal 
was an imitation of the splendour of the court at 
Versailles under Louis XIV. The first years were 
characterized by great luxury and splendid display, the 
new Empress leading the movement, and the wor- 
shippers of monarchic dictatorship flocked to her 
standard, undismayed by past experiences or by present 
ominous tendencies. 

The inauguration again of a strict court etiquette 
brought with it a prescribed court costume. The court 
train and the court mantle may be mentioned as in- 
dicative of this reaction. The mantle falling from the 
shoulders to the floor was reserved for the Empress and 
a few court ladies whom she deigned to honour. The 
court train, however, was more general, and specialists in 
dancing were employed to teach the great ladies how to 
get about easily in this regalia without tripping or 
falling. It is not strange that the bourgeoisie copied 
this fashion, which was also in vogue in England, nor 
that we find the custom appearing simultaneously with 
other French fashions in the United States, first among 
the elect and then wherever sufficient material could be 
obtained. 

Monarchic social life again dictated fashion but was 
no longer able to confine it to the court, nobility, or 
even to the bourgeoisie. The proletariat was slowly 
coming into its own and enjoying all the sensations 
attendent upon being "dressed up" in fashion, if not in 
quality or taste. Thus grew the individual idea even 
in the last of the monarchic epochs of France. 

The marriage of the Emperor took place in the cathe- 

305 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

dral of Notre Dame and the bride wore a dress of white 
terry velvet with a long court train. The basque 
bodice was high and trimmed heavily with diamonds, 
sapphires, and orange blossoms. The entire skirt was 
covered with "point d 'Angleterre and the long veil was of 
the same material. Her hair was dressed in two 
bandeaux, one in front, the veil raised and peaked in the 
style Marie Stuart, the other rolled from the top of her 
head to her neck where it ended in a mass of curls, 
which according to a contemporary poet looked like a 
*'nest of Cupids." 

**Full dress" became an object of ambition among 
the middle classes as well as the imperialists and, we 
are told, "the brilliant inventions of fashion succeeded 
each other uninterruptedly." Attempts were made to 
revive the styles of the First Empire as they would 
more nearly express the political social succession than 
any new invention, but a counter movement prevented 
this from being achieved to any great extent because, 
no doubt, of the unquenchable longing of the human 
species for something new and original. A fair idea of 
the fashions of the winter of 1854 is given in the follow- 
ing description of a dress worn at the opera: "The 
gown was of gray 'poulte de soie,' the high bodice was 
fastened by ruby buttons, and the basque, open on the 
hips, was trimmed with a knot of cherry coloured 
ribbons; the five flounces of the skirt were edged with 
ribbon of the same hue laid on flat and terminating in 
bows with long ends." This, if representative, certainly 
was aiming at a simplicity that was commendable when 
compared with the Empire style in 1810. 

Court ladies in general followed the style set by the 
306 




FOR LESS THAN ROYAL PERSONAGES SIMPLICITY IN ENSEMBLE 
WITH PECULIARITIES AND EXAGGERATION IN DETAIL MARK 
THE EARLY PART OF THIS PERIOD. 





I^M V XVX^ '■ ^~ 




ORIGINALITY, NOT TASTE, WAS THE NOT INFREQUENT 
CAUSE OF fashion's COMBINATIONS AS INTERPRETED BY 
THE BOURGEOISIE. 




MANY SIMPLE, LOVELY, AND ADAPTABLE COSTUMES ARE FOUND 
BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 AMONG PEOPLE OF TASTE WHO WERE 
LOATH TO RENOUNCE THE ESTHETIC SENSE AS THE CENTURY 
ADVANCED. 




THIS PORTRAIT (iTALIAn), DONE IN 1829, MIGHT ALMOST BE BUT 
TWO DECADES OLD, OR EVEN LESS, IN SOME OF ITS DETAILS. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

Empress, ladies of the rich bourgeoisie vied each other 
for the first place in fashion's feats, while the great 
actresses of the day each strove to outdo the Empress 
in matters of novelty and eccentricity. Notwithstand- 
ing all this, the time was not yet ripe for the installation 
of the periodic recurrence of new fashions in all things 
which developed later, and which is in force to this 
day. 

The tendency of the rather simple, though rich, ap- 
parel of the early Second Empire was, in general, to 
mould the body into a youthful, slim shape, giving a 
somewhat delicate effect. This, with the trains and 
flowing mantles gave a certain dignity and grace, which 
was to be rudely displaced by the introduction of 
crinoline and hoops in 1854. This ungraceful and 
bothersome fashion was quickly taken up by the never 
satisfied ones with a zeal that seemed to indicate a long 
felt desire again to conceal all the lines of the body and 
to contest the right of others even to a place in space. 
By the more conservative the excess was, of course, 
constantly attacked, as such freaks always have been. 
Fashion was triumphant none the less, and the devious 
ways for "swelling out" one's clothes which were in- 
vented are numerous enough to convince one that to go 
with the stream is the final fate of all, even though they 
stand out against the particular manner in which they 
go. 

Ruffled, starched petticoats, flowered skirts stuffed 
with horsehair, real hoops of wood, whalebone, and 
steel, these and other devices soon succeeded in elimina- 
ting the shape of the human body from all consideration 
in the matter of dress, and the creation of abominable 

307 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

forms seems to have completely absorbed human in- 
genuity. 

Between 1855 and 1860 there was a wave of tre- 
mendous enthusiasm for life at watering places such as 
Dieppe, Trouville, Biarritz, Vichy, Plombieres and 
Bagneres. These visits were made, of course, for the 
health of the pilgrims, much as our social migrations are 
made to Palm Beach, French Lick, White Sulphur, 
Atlantic City, or Coronado. Then, as now, at such 
places fashion was working overtime. One writer 
says: "The most fantastic and even eccentric costumes 
were invented not only for women but for girls and 
children also." And then he tells how, clad in all 
possible finery, the ladies walked by the sea or sat about 
the thermal resorts, chattering and showing how 
** dressy and chic" they could be. Alas! we seem after 
all only to have imitated our predecessors, and some- 
what grotesquely at that, if old prints and other docu- 
ments of 1855 and photographs shown in our Sunday 
papers may be considered authentic. 

It is written in the ''History of Fashion," by 
Challamel, that around 1870 "women indulged more 
than ever in the strangest whims of fashion. The 
minor newspapers even published paragraphs describing 
the costumes of this or that great lady, designating each 
by her name, by no means to the displeasure of the 
fair ones thus distinguished. Tailors and dressmakers 
grew very rich." It is not unlikely that both these 
statements may be true and that as papers and mag- 
azines have increased in number, and as "great ladies" 
is merely a relative term, the times were not unlike 
that in which we live, either in impulse or aspiration. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

Many new periodicals devoted entirely to fashion 
sprang up in this decade, not only in France but else- 
where, and this hastened the day for the copy of 
French fashions by all Christendom. 

The dress of the Duchesse de Mouchy, worn at a 
Beauvais ball in 1869, gives us an idea of the quality of 
the epoch. It consisted of a gown and train of white 
silk gauze spotted with silver, a short overdress of red 
currant coloured silk forming a ruched "tablier," a 
low square-cut bodice and shoulder straps of diamonds 
and rubies and a wide scarf of flowers with silver leaves 
which fell from one shoulder slanting across the skirt. 

It was at this time that the decided change in fashion 
as to skirts took place. "The balloon skirt gave way to a 
close fitting bag," says a recorder of fashions, "and 
tubs to laths." As on former occasions there was a 
bitter struggle but a complete annihilation of the older 
mode was the final outcome. Quantities of jewellery 
were worn, and feathers, ribbons, and artificial flowers 
were popular. 

This period of the return of the spirit of imperialism 
to power was one of history's most convincing ex- 
amples of the futility of trying to revive worn out art 
forms to express ol^Lideas developing under new con- 
ditions. Ever and anon the forms of the mediaeval, 
the classic, the earlier French styles and the First 
Empire, were revived and made to express this new 
imperialism imposed upon an only half willing people, 
but when each was tried out it went rapidly into dis- 
card, another taking its place. The lesson is obvious. 
The spirit of the day was not at home in these old 
bodies and therefore both refused to function. An 

309 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

abnormal condition of pretence, discontent, and stuffi- 
ness resulted, excelled however, in England, where 
these unsatisfactory conditions were still more aggra- 
vated. 

In 1870 was inaugurated the Third Republic, the 
beginning of present day life in France, and there- 
fore the beginning of the determination of world 
fashions, the time of their appearance and the sources 
from which they should be taken. With the fitful 
days of 1870, the German occupation and domination, 
the loss of Alsace Lorraine and the gradual return to 
normal life we are all familiar. Even these incidents, 
however, furnished ideas for fashion's whims. First 
came a return to bare fundamentals, then some Ger- 
man and Bavarian imitations, followed by a senti- 
mental copy and adaptation of the national costumes 
of Alsace and Lorraine. 

"In 1873 feminine dress became extremely com- 
plicated," we read. "All kinds of ornamentations 
were used with more or less happy effect. It seemed as 
if feminine vanity were endeavouring to make up for 
the lost years of 1871 and 1872. Simplicity was suc- 
ceeded by finery of all sorts and the trimmings of dresses 
cost enormous prices. Fifteen or twenty flounces were 
put on one skirt. Costumes were trimmed with 
chased, bronzed, or oxydized buttons." 

Here we find authorities universally agreed that the 
age of independent dress, each one following her own 
taste, began in earnest. Each fashion had infinite 
variety in its interpretations, many of which were im- 
mediately pronounced anarchical by those accustomed 
to obey fashion's dictates. Now it was that cut be- 
310 



NBS^ETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

came the principal thing, materials and trimmings 
being graded according to ti:'e wealth or whim of the 
wearer. If the new Republic sought to simplify dress 
or to reduce its cost, it failed. On the contrary luxury 
increased, display became a mania and the prole- 
tariat came again into its own with complete surrender 
to its new possibilities. Thus was firmly established 
the order in which we live, w^hich has its advantages for 
those whose sense of humour is still alive. 

In a book published in New York about 1877 we 
find an attempt to awaken the new world aesthetic 
sense to its relation with costumes, and the injection 
of the moral element in the treatment of various items 
of personal adornment. The writer assures us that 
the art of dressing the head and the art of fashion are 
connected without being identical, and that in spite of 
this close association we may readily detect their 
differences. He writes also: ''Like all other parts of 
her dress, a woman's bonnet is an indication of char- 
acter, and this can only arise from its relation to senti- 
ment. Look at that nun who is passing by, devoted to 
charitable works, and who bears the name of the virtue 
she practices; she wears on her head a large white 
cornette, which conceals the profile of her face, only 
leaving the organs of sight, breathing, and speech 
uncovered; her hair is invisible, and even its growth is 
hid under the bandage across her forehead. Starched 
and stiff, this cornette expresses to herself complete 
withdrawal from the world. Its single fold has a pur- 
pose and determination; no hand has touched it. Its 
smooth whiteness is an emblem of chastity and purity. 
Look now, at a fashionable young lady of the present 

311 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

day. who has discovered how to wear a bonnet without 
its covering her head, and who, far from conceahng her 
hair, draws it back, puP*s it, crimps it, displays it, and 
even adds to it an artificial abundance. Are not these 
the two extremes of bonnets between which every 
variety of severity and coquetry may find a place? . . . 

"In proportion as austerity diminishes, the front of 
the bonnet diminishes likewise, and when the Quaker- 
esses give up the tenets of their sect they will certainly 
alter the uniform bonnet which is one of the outward 
signs of their belief. If freedom of manners were to 
gain the victory over sedate deportment or hypocrisy, 
there would be nothing left of the bonnet but the shape 
and the strings 

"A bonnet is simply an excuse for a feather, a pre- 
text for a spray of flowers, the support of an aigrette, 
the fastening for a plume of Russian cock's feathers. 
It is placed on the head, not to protect it, but that it 
may be seen better. Its great use is to be charming. 
. . . Let there be no mistake: there are many 
things in the bonnet which do not depend upon fashion, 
which are released from its absolute yet limited control. 
All the ukases of this capricious and fantastic sovereign 
will not prevent a bonnet fastened by strings from being 
more modest, more of a covering — ^I was going to say 
more seemly — ^than a little cap perched on one side, or a 
plate upside down, like the Nice bonnet, fastened to the 
back of the hair by a ribbon nearly horizontal, and 
whose ends float behind. It is clear that with the one 
bonnet we connect the idea of reserve, with the other 
the idea of liberty." 

In a most amusing and assured way he goes on to tell 
312 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

us how one's character is shown to the world with un- 
mistakable clarity by the angle at which the hat is 
worn, by the kinds of feathers or flowers we "select 
because of our sentiments/' by the character and colour 
of the materials we use; and then declares against 
fashion's right to interfere with every woman's right 
and sacred duty to "know herself" and to adorn this 
conscious self with a respectful acknowledgment of her 
personal graces and also of her weaknesses, in such 
manner that only the former shall appear to him who 
looks on. Thus endeth a chapter representing the 
nineteenth century point of view, worth contrasting 
with any of the preceding epochs and comparing with 
some of the modern up-lift movements in dress still 
going on. Although this idea was not new it functions 
more easily in the self-righteous clumsiness of a mature 
Victorianism than it could have in Venice in the 
eighteenth century, when Goldoni wrote: "Women 
are wrong in my opinion, in following any general 
mode of dressing the hair: every one ought to consult 
her glass, to examine the features, and to adapt the 
arrangement of her hair to the style of her countenance 
and to make the hair dresser follow her orders." 

Goldoni only dared appeal to the material appearance 
of the lady, while our Victorian saw a way into the 
possibilities of soul qualities, as worthy of expression 
in dress. 

Those of us who have felt some sympathy with the 
laws of design even in dress have perchance been 
annoyed by the unwieldy watch chains of men, when 
hung from the centre button hole of the waistcoat and 
swung in a long loop to the left hand pocket, with noth- 

313 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

ing appearing on the right side to account for this 
intrusion on an otherwise inconspicuous garment. It is 
comforting to find that one of the most strongly urged 
art principles in this revival was that of balance in 
appearance and to discover a critic comparing this 
watch chain obsession to a woman with one earring, 
who, he declares, would, be impossible to look upon. 

The long frock coat is ridiculed here because of its 
unseemly proportions, the wide expanse of white 
shirt front, as being too arrogant, self-important, and 
distressing to the cultivated eye. Black gloves are 
called intolerable because they extinguish, as under a 
layer of ink, what is of greater importance to the human 
body. 

Curiously, the writer attempts to resurrect the knowl- 
edge that such a thing as taste exists, then to stimulate 
a desire to possess and express it. Often by appealing 
to the purely sentimental he expects to awaken a 
spiritual sense which he calls "character," then he 
urges the expression of this quality in dress, in the 
place of a blind following of fashion's mandates. If 
we could measure his results we should no doubt find 
that he influenced a small number to think a little, and 
that alone would be a sufficient reward for his work, 
though fashion's power was still uncrippled. If more 
than a few individual minds were touched, no evidence 
remains either in the dress of the time or in the in- 
herited practices of those of our own generation. 
Here, unhappily, art, sentiment, and morals gave way 
again to vanity, frivolity, and fashion. 

With the growth and spread of Paris fashions since 
1875 we are not concerned in detail, but to recognize 
314 




FROM 1830 TO THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY ' CAPRICE KNEW NO 
bounds" but evidently UGLINESS WAS EVEN LESS HAMPERED. 




THIS ILLUSTRATION WAS TAKEN FROM THE JOURNAL OF PARIS 
fashions" for the SPRING OF 1834. THE EFFECT IS MORE ELO- 
QUENT THAN COMMENT. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

her contributions to the nineteenth century is im- 
portant, and to look somewhat into the cause and 
eflfect of her hectic poUtical and social life during that 
century is to see again that these elements are always 
active in determining any style. 

As in the eighteenth, so in the nineteenth century 
Italy was committed to French influence in matters re- 
lating directly to social life. Almost forgotten were the 
pompous, haughty, and oppressive customs of the Span- 
ish tyrants. The less civilized, if no less arrogant and 
repressive Austrian manners were a thing of memory 
rather than an element of social practice. The frivo- 
lous and amusing fashions of the French had inspired 
social aims for nearly a century, and the arts, including 
costumes, had responded to this influence with little 
real interruption until it had become a habit. 

The advent of Napoleon was in some ways a relief, for 
it loosened Austria's political hold, and by the intro- 
duction of the Empire style furnished a new motive for 
intuitive Italian inventiveness. Through the elimina- 
tion of the Austrian the French influence was strength- 
ened and long after the (all of Napoleon we find the 
ladies of Italy, particularly in Piedmont, Naples, 
Venice, and Rome modifying and using the Empire 
fashions, while they looked westward for new ideas as 
they were being developed in France and England. 

A foreign officer in the British service in Italy wrote in 
1819 of the ladies of Turin: "The bourgeoisie of Turin 
dress in coloured gowns, black silk aprons and caps 
quite a la Francaise. This class of females, consisting 
in Turin of shopkeepers' wives and daughters, milliners, 
etc., are very free in their manners and address, and 

315 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

have a good deal of French coquetry about them. The 
Piedmontese ladies dress generally after the French 
fashion but of late may have rather adopted the English 
style." 

Other documents seem to indicate that during the 
rest of the first half of the century a sort of Anglo- 
mania sprang up, particularly in Venice and Turin, as it 
did in France, and that one of the first apparent results 
was seen in fashion in dress. This, however, was not 
universal and France continued to be the centre from 
which emanated fashion's last word. 

Nothing of gain to our purpose could come from a 
further discussion of the nineteenth century styles in 
England, particularly after the first quarter of the 
century. Their origin, development, and reflex here are 
too familiar to require repetition and there is nothing 
new either in their idea or operation that has not ap- 
peared in more attractive form over and over again in 
our discussion of cause and effect in life. Only in the 
proportion of its active elements does it differ from 
other manifestations and therefore in the quality of its 
results. The aesthetic sense practically eliminated, 
sentiment turning to sentimentality, science supplanting 
cultural learning, and iron-bound morality taking the 
place of imagination or a sense of humour, left the 
question of costumes rather bare of interest, except per- 
haps during the period when fainting fits were fashion- 
able, when the wan and hungry bodies of all nice ladies 
were covered with hoops, rufHes, pokes, and ribbons in 
such a manner that a certain charm of romantic frailty 
surrounded these helpless apparitions. Through our 
inheritance of chivalry we learned to admire these, and 
316 



NINETEENTH CENTURY STYLES 

to love to protect them. But all this is tiresome, for it 
was almost better staged in the United States than it 
was in England, its natural home. 

Of the fashions from 1895 until the dawn of the 
present century we are satisfied to remain as ignorant 
as we may; if perchance we are not satisfied to rest as 
easily about our own fashions, there is plenty of mat- 
erial available for those of us whose memory does not 
go quite back to that time. 



317 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY 
CHARACTERISTICS 



THE conception of life called medisevalism, with its 
highly specialized spiritual aims and its ecclesiastical 
scenario was but a reaction after all against the in- 
tellectually developed ideal of classic Greece, already 
debased by foreign adoption and misrepresentation. 
The elements of humanism, always present, though 
sometimes suppressed for a time, boldly reasserted 
themselves together with their new ally, the classic 
ideal, and soon the Renaissance displaced mediseval- 
ism. This more complex conception of life in which are 
involved mainly three general factors, the appetites, the 
intellect, and the desire for material objects, has fur- 
nished the elements for the ideals of civilized peoples 
since the fifteenth century, sometimes dictated from 
one angle sometimes from another, according to geo- 
graphic position surrounding conditions and national or 
local mental development. A passion for culture, for art, 
or for amusement, and even for the pleasures imagined 
to be found in over-indulged appetites, or the greed for 
personal gain, called commercialism, have been ever 
and again the central ideas around which a period has 
been formed and a style crystallized. 

Interruptions of each particular phase of this in- 
318 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

tellectual and material ideal begun by the Renais- 
sance have taken place at times, just as one great 
fundamental ideal was interrupted in its application by 
the birth and development of another, before the Ren- 
naissance became a reality. We have seen how the 
beginning of the modern social ideal appeared in 
France and was named Chivalry, how it served its 
time and left its legacy to sixteenth century social 
France, and how the Renaissance adopted it and tried 
it from several angles, until it finally gave way before 
the powerful domination of centralized autocracy in mat- 
ters of social life under the stupendous concept of the 
period of Louis XIV. This, when sufficiently worked 
out, elaborated and lived through, gave us that marvel- 
lous eighteenth century of artistic social expression. 
When in turn this became effete it was interrupted 
by the concept, already formulated, of scientific and 
commercial nineteenth century development as a dom- 
inating factor around which to build a nation's life 
interest. 

Already in 1920 signs of dissatisfaction with this 
view of life are seen everywhere; the field of religion is 
seething with new beliefs with new names, the political 
systems of Christendom are shaken to their foundations, 
while entirely new orders are being freely [predicted 
and tried. The lines of social caste are threatened from 
every direction, and work, education, pleasure, and 
amusement are receiving no end of discussion, experi- 
ment, and speculation. 

Amidst all this melee fashion is still unscathed and 
unabashed. The vogue in clothes is not one whit less 
important than it ever has been, its every change is as 

319 



FSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

eagerly watched for as it was in 1780 at Versailles, or in 
Mantua in 1500 and, strange as it may appear, Paris 
still has supreme control of fashion's trend. The reason 
for this is a deep-seated one, but it harks back directly 
to that great period of the Grande Monarque, to whose 
fashions we are all heirs. In this period and in those 
succeeding may be discerned the psychology as well 
as the history of the present situation with the signs 
that point already with unmistakable directness not 
only to a new interruption and reaction, but to certain 
elements which will be active in the composition of this 
reaction. 

Louis XIV may rightly be said to have made and 
unmade France, and France the civilized world, so far 
as matters of art and fashion are concerned. The 
perfection of this autocratic political-social system, 
conceived and worked out during this long reign, won 
for itself, particularly in all its social ramifications, not 
only the astonishment of the civilized world, but the 
conceded right practically to dictate to civilized Europe 
its social customs and its graces, with the resultant 
styles and fashions, in which life is consciously and 
unconsciously set. This supremacy was attained, how- 
ever, by a segregation of classes, violent suppression of 
the masses, and unrestricted leisure of individuals to act 
to one end, namely the perfection of this machine which, 
by its very autocratic centralization laid the founda- 
tion for the appalling revolution through which crushed 
individual initiative sought once more to assert itself. 
In the realization of this objective the old order was 
completely destroyed, and with it went the immediate 
outward customs and the art forms by which the old 
320 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

regime had been expressed. But three very important 
things remained and to this day they are no less power- 
ful than they were in the eighteenth century, even 
though in certain exigencies and emergencies nations 
raise their voices in protest, heralding a new era, a 
liberal social order and a "modern art expression." 

Before the outbreak of the great World War, for 
example, we were much interested in Germany's new 
and practical form of "art expression," but as for its 
art quality or the desirability of the ideas for which it 
stood, there seemed to be much difference of opinion, 
with the result that we returned to the civilization that 
gave birth to ours, whose art quality had stood the 
test of centuries even though customs and forms had 
been and should be modified. By and by we shall 
learn that, in art as well as religion, there is but one god 
and that is truth. Art quality does not change, and 
art objects are produced only when the art quality is 
present in the minds of those persons who create ob- 
jects, and when this quality is a conscious necessity to 
those who use the objects after they are made. 

The French national ideals in the reigns from Louis 
XIV to Louis XVI made possible a limited aristocratic, 
autocratic class, demanding more and more as it became 
more attenuated, just this measure of art quality for its 
satisfaction; and the concentrated creative powers of 
Europe were mustered into action to satisfy this 
demand. The results speak for themselves. These ob- 
jects of art are sought by all people of taste through- 
out the world, both for the aesthetic pleasure they give 
and as models of form and colour from which inspiration 
to create anew may be drawn. 

321 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

These objects of art constitute but one of the three 
important things that this artistic social order be- 
queathed to us. The undisputed supremacy of France 
as quahfied to speak with finality upon matters relating 
to the polite amenities of social intercourse, and her 
rightful position as the art centre of the world, cast a 
spell of submissive respect upon the peoples of the 
civilized world. The French language, French manners, 
and French fashions were as eagerly sought and copied 
by the world at large as they were willingly handed 
over by the French themselves. Habit is invincible. 
France's position is still unassailable. In fashion's 
realm the world awaits with bated breath her mandates. 
The great Sunday papers of New York City print pages 
to-day, February the twenty-second, 1920, about just 
this matter, from which these sentences are quoted: 
*'THE INFLUENCE OF PARIS IS DOMINANT IN 
OUR FIRST SHOWING OF SPRING FASHIONS. 
Paris and pleats are inseparable — everywhere they ap- 
pear — in upstanding ruffs, in inserted panels, in tunics, 
in skirts, in any fabric, colour, or garment." Then 
follows a description of patterns, fabrics, cuts, and 
details, with reference to each Paris house whose 
dictates have been accepted. 

Soon the costumes from Paris will come; then the mad 
rush to own one, after making perfectly certain, of 
course, that the label naming the house from which it 
came is still in its place, and probably being unable at 
the same time to ascertain with certainty whether or not 
the costume or the label is *' authentic" or when or 
where the label was sewn on; but that doesn't matter, 
the psychology is obvious, or will be, when all those who 



Z.f, 









X 









^- S^- 



CONTRAST THE QUAINT AFFECTATIONS OF THIS ILLUSTRATION OF 
THE SAME DATE WITH THE SUPREME UGLINESS OF THE PRECEDING 
ONE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF VARIETY IN THE INTERPRETATION OF A 
VOGUE. 




IF IN NO OTHER PARTICULAR OUR MODERN YOUNG WOMEN MAY FIND 
SOLACE IN QUEEN VICTORIA'S ATTEMPT TO COVER HER EARS, WHICH, 
IF NOT WHOLLY SUCCESSFUL, WAS CERTAINLY MORE DECORATIVE 
THAN OUR METHOD. 




OF THE FUSSINESS OF THE MID-CENTURY WE NOT ONLY FIND THE 
PRECEDING ILLUSTRATION ILLUMINATING, BUT THIS PORTRAIT 
OF THE QUEEN OF LOUIS PHILIPPE, CONVINCING. 




WHILE ITALY WAS POSSESSED WITH THE DESIRE TO APPEAR DELI- 
CATE, THIS MID-CENTURY PORTRAIT OF A PRINCESS SHOWS THE 
EPOCH AT ITS BEST, IN A COSTUME OF REAL CHARM. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

cannot afford one of these so-called models have vainly 
tried to copy one, with results quite familiar to us all; 
but the sanctity of fashion's stronghold is still preserved. 

Associated very intimately with the causes of this 
mixture of appreciation and awe on our part is the third 
legacy of the great period mentioned which is the most 
important of all to see and to emulate, in so far as 
that may be possible, considering the two damaging 
restrictions to which we are subject: first, the state of 
mind in which we find ourselves in regard to art ap- 
preciation, and second, our decentralized social regime, 
which has the effect of bringing out somewhat remark- 
able, but ephemeral, dictators of our social life to whom 
practically all classes turn for criteria in matters of 
dress as inevitably in our safely democratic country 
as in others, during any period of history. 

This third element is concerned with the art quality of 
French fashions, with the origin of this quality, and 
with the secret of its automatic operation for centuries 
in France while other great peoples have only striven to 
make money to buy it, apparently not interested in 
what it is, why they desire it, or how to use it after hav- 
ing bought it, the desire for it undoubtedly being most 
often dictated by fashion, habit, or other personal 
reasons. This, seemingly, is the problem and it is 
worthy the study of a people who not only are desirous 
of competing,- but who are, for one reason or another, 
bent upon a struggle in the world market for supremacy 
in the creation of things the art quality of which shall 
be commercially unassailable. The psychology of this 
situation is obvious. By ever so swift a process it 
takes a nation, like an individual, some time to acquire 

323 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

and establish firmly in consciousness any quality so 
completely associated with every field of thought that 
it cannot be dislodged either from the thought or its 
expression. Through environment and study only 
may this quality be acquired, but being acquired, its 
possession quickens the aesthetic sense to an apprecia- 
tion of its value. 

Appreciation and the possession of the quality arouse 
the desire for expression, or the creation of objects or 
conditions in which this quality is manifest. This 
impulse obeyed, art objects result; and better still, if 
obeyed often enough an art habit is formed and a finer 
perception acquired of what constitutes a truly har- 
monious relation between ideas and their material ex- 
pression. Whatever in French fashions is the result of 
this condition will tend to make them supreme, until 
such time as some other nation shall solve the problem 
better, or until civilization lapses to barbarism and the 
art quality is of less moment than it is even now. 

But art is only one quality of style and can make its 
appeal only to the aesthetic sense on the one hand and to 
common sense, or the sense of the fitness of things, on 
the other. 

Fashion makes its appeal to a wider range of desires 
and appetites and is therefore not solely dependent upon 
the art quality for its success, although the quality 
itself and the common habit of thinking we want it is, 
and indisputably has been for a good while, a desirable 
adjunct to life. This is no place for a complete analysis 
of fashion, for we must all have decided long ere this, as 
we looked into the various centuries, to what elemental 
desires, appetites, vanities, and self interest this, one of 
324 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

the greatest of earth's autocrats, has made and no 
doubt always will make, its inevitable appeal. The 
primal need for shelter, for instance, must be satisfied 
partly by dress, yet it seems at times that protection 
from the elements has not been the sole reason for 
wearing clothes, or for going without them either. 
The tradition of the Garden of Eden as affecting our 
dress is very deeply seated, yet even this has frequently 
been assailed by fashion's claims almost to the upsetting 
of habits and customs. 

The fundamental claim of man's sesthetic sense for 
satisfaction, and the interest everyone takes in his own 
personal appearance has always impelled him to decor- 
ate or adorn himself in such manner as he honestly 
believed would achieve the best results. In this he was 
of course in competition with his neighbour, who was 
actuated by exactly the same impulses. Neither could 
be outdone by the other without wounding or entirely 
destroying his pride, another universal human quality. 
This state of vanity, selfishness, pride, and aesthetic con- 
ception thus created in the mind, ever has been and 
ever will be one of fashion's best fields in which to 
operate, for it is her mission to invade just such contests 
and to suggest a possible satisfaction for these mixed 
claims. Through the appeal to man's love of novelty 
or originality she has generally succeeded in getting a 
hearing, because of the fact that the desire of man for a 
new sensation is fundamental and that through this 
desire he has ever and anon fallen from his high estate. 

We should not presume to analyze the individual mo- 
tives that impel man to adopt what is known as the ''com- 
mercial idea." How universal this view is and almost 

325 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

always has been, how it has grappled with the best 
spiritual ideals and cultural concepts of man, and how 
surely it has throttled not only their legitimate develop- 
ment but that of other ideals, needs no other proof than 
personal memory. The ratio of selfishness, passion for 
possession, for self-preservation, love of chance, thirst 
for power, and desire for the luxuries and extravagances 
of life is not of great importance, in fact it probably can 
never be relatively estimated. These qualities are 
known, however, to exist universally; we recognize 
them in others and we acknowledge their power and the 
importance of the ideal for which they stand, if ideal it 
may be called, since it has ever and again become the 
most important individual and national aim in life. 
Whenever this has been the case fashion has become at 
once its devoted accomplice, and never without success 
on both sides. 

Thus has fashion allied herself to the changing mind 
states of man, always keeping in view not only his 
elemental physical appetites, aesthetic and intellectual 
desires, and his spiritual longings, but his every weak- 
ness as well. It matters little which of these sets of 
impulses is dominant, for it is as easy to make the 
attenuation of the body to the point of apparent 
elimination the goal of ambition in fashion as it is to 
make any particular part, or the whole of it, the object 
of aesthetic prominence or of appetite satisfaction. 

Fashion knows no limitations, no spiritual, aesthetic, 
or material obstacles; it recognizes only man's sus- 
ceptibilities and his weaknesses and it is bound only to 
satisfy them, whatever or wherever their demands. 
Thus, forsooth, it seems, upon enquiring into the past, 
326 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

to be more universal and successful than we had hereto- 
fore supposed. 

To regulate the natural, and for that matter the 
unnatural, instincts and impulses of the human race 
according to any, even temporarily accepted, religious, 
ethical, moral or political, intellectual, aesthetic or 
social set of regulations appears to have been difficult. 
When by some particularly fortunate circumstance this 
has been possible for a limited time, a style has been 
expressed the understanding of which enables us now to 
trace from effect to cause the unalterable fundamentals 
of human life, and the relation between them and their 
expression. No condition and no field so far exploited 
seems to be one in which fashion has not played its full 
role. 

It was thought, for example, to be exactly as immoral 
in the thirteenth century for mediaeval ladies to go 
about with their hair uncovered to the public gaze as it 
was in the Victorian era to bare certain other portions of 
the body, or as it is now to place no limit to possible 
nakedness. It is of course in the point of view that the 
impropriety lies, but a different point of view does not 
in the least change the occasional grotesqueness of the 
exhibition. 

Presumably it was as unethical for the jewellers, 
decorators, and costume makers of the early sixteenth 
century unrestrainedly to exploit the aesthetic weakness 
and the limited resources of Isabella, Duchess of 
Gonzaga, as it is now for these same personages to 
exploit in like manner the ignorance and weakness of 
many fine ladies of our day who have unlimited re- 
sources and who desire to shine in the same fields as did 

327 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the illustrious duchess, though perhaps for dissimilar 
reasons. 

Polite and amusing conversation was society's 
greatest asset in the eighteenth century; to lack it was a 
social barrier; to possess it unlimited time and effort 
were freely given and expense incurred. Even this 
ideal proved to be destructible, for society has since 
found satisfaction in other practices less praiseworthy 
but to them as important, without which no person was 
eligible to the inner life of the socially elect. It seems 
certain that nothing good or evil is but thinking makes 
it so, and that thinking it so for any large group of 
people is generally dependent upon first making it the 
fashion to so think, notwithstanding the few who have 
met an untimely death for being out of the fashion in 
thinking for themselves before the fashion so to think 
became operative. 

Whatever else is problematical, certain it is that 
Louis XIV made France the dictator of social forms and 
of fashions, more particularly perhaps as it is expressed 
in costume, and most particularly in the realm of 
women's dress, for which she is still the dictator. Long 
ago England wrested from her the right to say what 
men, particularly conservative ones, should wear and 
when they should wear it. Of the present indications 
in that regard we shall speak later. It is also certain 
that into the national consciousness of France, with its 
complex elements, many centuries in the process of 
making, many and divers ideals were injected; that she 
adopted and expressed certain of them more clearly 
than other nations, and that certain other ideals 
suffered through centralization upon those adopted. 
328 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

Yet in the last analysis she has the same elemental 
desires and impulses as other peoples, differing at 
times only in the proportion in which they are active. 
It is this knowledge that gives colour and interest to 
life and makes history worth studying. 

Until the middle of the eighteenth century we in the 
United States were true children of the mother country 
actuated to be sure by new and virile ideas of life the 
development of which seemed impossible in England. 
This condition and the desire for adventure, with 
other causes, led to our Colonial life. Gradually but 
surely foreign ideas of Germanic, French, and Scandi- 
navian origin filtered in, but these were not of sufficient 
strength to make themselves noticeably felt. Radically 
differing from the mother country in regard to certain 
political and religious methods did not in any sense 
change the physical or mental fibre of our inheritance 
any more than young Riley or Cohen of our generation 
are denationalized because they are less orthodox in 
their views than their fathers. We dressed in the 
fashions that our forefathers accepted long after we 
eschewed their orthodoxy in religion and politics. 

From the middle of the century to the accession of 
Victoria was for us the period of national crystallization 
and youthful experience. We defied the old folks and 
all their doings, violently espoused the French styles and 
are even said -to have copied, in this period, German 
and Scandinavian customs, and ideas for costumes, in 
our first consciousness of trying to be original and as 
well dressed as became our new individual import- 
ance. 

By the time the Victorian era was well under way in 

329 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

England, let us say in 1860, and the blatant and hectic 
period of the Second Empire in France was well estab- 
lished, the urge of national consciousness to create for 
itself became so great that we arrived almost without 
effort at the period of self expression called variously 
" American Victorian," " the Black Walnut Period " and, 
more specifically and locally, "the Period of General 
Grant." "The Early Pullman" and still other names 
were given, whose comic or tragic significance recalls to 
most of us simply the ugliest conception of human ex- 
pression known to have been perpetrated in the name of 
civilization. But why dwell on this or the indescribable 
idiosyncrasies of dress? Designs for costumes pro- 
ceeded from the same disordered brain as those for 
ponderous architectural beds, swollen plush upholstery, 
and the ''drooping vine" handmade decorations so 
beloved by all. 

The aesthetic sense in England had long since been 
denied existence. In France the half century of erratic 
national antics had, for the time being, depleted its 
vitality to the point of temporary disability. In 
Italy nothing save the struggle for national unity found 
a place in the national mind. These centres of in- 
spiration closed, and the United States in the midst of 
her first decided original period expression, with an 
aesthetic sense the results of which speak only too elo- 
quently of its quality, the art of modern civilization 
reached its lowest ebb and costumes their record, for 
lack of charm or graciousness or art. 

The first ray of hope, to those who still had either 
the desire for art or the gift to think in terms of art, was 
the great Centennial (1876) held in Philadelphia, at 
330 









FOK UNPARALLELED INSIPIDITY OF POSE, FOR COSTUME DESIGN 
ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE, YET WITH A CERTAIN REFINEMENT 
OF GENERAL APPEARANCE, THE PERIOD OF ABOUT 1862 IS SUPREME. 




BY 1869 REDEMPTION FROM THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS NO LONGER A 
MATTER FOR SPECULATION. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

which time we brought together in this country for the 
first time the art objects, broadly speaking, of the 
civiUzed world. The dulled and soggy national art 
sense was jolted into semi-consciousness and with the 
assistance of a child's instinctive love of the curious, and 
an awakening fear lest some other people had something 
that we had not, we first unconsciously, and then 
consciously began the struggle which is the main reason 
for the great "Industrial Art Revival" we are now so 
earnestly and, just at present, amusingly, trying to 
organize and make "commercially operative" on the 
spot. 

Of the final fall of Victorianism and our own perfectly 
original conception of social art, we all know. Of the 
period called "the perfect copy of Period Styles," 
where no intimation, of course, existed in the mind of 
him who copied the style, as to when it was in use. Of 
the recourse to all periods of the earth's history, during 
the last twenty-five or thirty years, we need no recital. 
If we have a sense of humour we can only dismiss it 
with a smile and a sense of relief. Of the birth of a new 
desire for personal understanding and experience in art, 
which took place just before the war, and of the 
acceleration of the growth of this desire during the years 
of conflict, everyone is talking and writing. Concerned 
in all this, fashion has played her accustomed leading 
role with her own peculiarly universal success, and she 
is no less an autocrat in directing our new-born art 
enthusiasm than she was in yoking us to Victorian 
sentimentalism, or to our egotism in the dark ages of the 
Black Walnut epidemic. 

Notwithstanding this subjection to fashion our 

331 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

belief in our power to develop in six months, for our own 
salvation and incidentally for that of the world, an 
"All American Art" containing no element or sugges- 
tion of the decadent past, is apparent; an art of a 
clarity, newness, and originality that shall answer the 
needs of the aesthetic sense, and the common sense, too, 
of all allied and associated peoples. 

Yet the spring fashions for women are all coming 
from Paris, and there are some men who have not yet 
abandoned conservative styles still dictated from Lon- 
don; in fact, the headlines of the leading papers tell us 
that conservatism in materials and cut is the vogue for 
men for the season of 1920. What at first may seem of 
minor importance is that there are yet alive some who 
can understand, appreciate, and use the art of the past 
intelligently, who can see it in relation to their own com- 
posite lives and in relation to the aesthetic quality 
which they know to be an essential of any object which 
will survive longer than the duration of a whim. 

The term "democracy" is fashionable now, and we 
find this sagaciously wedded to modern "commercial 
interests" and then accepted and exploited by fashion 
with as much finesse and success as usual, and in 
alliance, too, with the general uprising of those so-called 
lower classes who are, and always have been, deter- 
mined to share the possibilities of dressing well with the 
classes they have learned to think are above them. 
How far they are right in their beliefs, or ever have 
been, is still problematical, but the right to be in the 
fashion is still the contested point among classes, and 
ways and means to realize and express this right are 
still being assiduously worked out. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

A fairly complete understanding of the situation 
to-day, its problems, its methods, the sources of its 
materials and the evident unmodified instincts of man 
may be splendidly sensed in the following quotation 
taken from an article entitled "Paris Fashions/' 
written by a correspondent and printed in the "London 
Times" of September 19, 1919: 

"styles for moderate purses" 

"Fashion is so democratic that in spite of all the efforts 
made in high places of the dressmaking industry, the 
new styles of each season soon find their way into the 
large shops. Only price can make a style prohibitive 
to-day, and this may be one of the reasons why the Rue 
de la Paix has chosen this season to work in such elabor- 
ate materials as gold and silver faille, beaded nets, and 
feathers of great price. Such materials necessarily 
mean expensive clothes, and although women of all 
classes spend more money on dress than formerly, the 
working and middle-class women cannot go beyond 
certain limits. They must, therefore, follow fashion in 
less gorgeous apparel; but follow fashion they will, and 
the magasins de nouveautes have realized that to satisfy 
this demand they must have styles that walk close on 
the heels of the Rue de la Paix. 

"A visit to the large shops in Paris shows that this 
demand has been satisfied. Few of fashion's latest 
novelties are absent from their showrooms, and only the 
difference in quality and in colour of materials marks 
the dresses as not made by the master- workers. To 
the connoisseur this difference is vastly important, but 
to the average woman it is not; and so long as the effect 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

is striking and similar to that of the better class dress 
she asks no more. 

'* Nevertheless she sometimes errs in taste, and this 
season she threatens to commit the folly of letting her 
love of novelties run away with her. From all the 
watering-places, not only from Deauville, but from 
Chamonix, Aix, Evian, Annecy, the same reports come of 
exaggerated decollete dinner dresses, and dance frocks 
which are as weird as the dances and the music to which 
they are danced. There is no measure, no simplicity in 
the dress and amusements of the women who follow 
fashion blindly to-day; and in a kindly but scathing 
article in the Echo de Paris, M. Andre Beaunier con- 
demns the spirit which has made such fashions pos- 
sible. He exonerates to some extent the nouveaux 
riches as momentarily irresponsible, but he blames the 
anciens riches and the nouveaux pauvres for being bitten 
by the same madness. He calls for a return to sim- 
plicity and refinement and true elegance, things that are 
as far removed from luxury as old-fashioned dancing is 
from modern. 

"At the same time, a disquieting rumour is that the 
Second Empire fashions are growing in favour, and we 
are to see vivid Scotch plaids, starched frilled panta- 
loons showing below the skirt, and other like absurdities. 
We would rather a thousand times see the styles of the 
eighteenth century than those of the Second Empire; 
they are, at least, gay and gracious. But, unfortunately, 
there are already models of tailor-mades in glaring 
Scotch plaids which no Scotch clan would own. The 
coats are long, with pockets on the hips, and the skirts 
are slim and reach nearly to the ankles. A fur collar 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

softens the effect of hardness near the face, and a black 
velvet toque, three-cornered and very soft and pliable, 
somewhat tones down the gaudiness of the costume, but 
no stretch of the imagination could make such a vivid 
plaid becoming to any woman." 

These conditions are identical with our own except 
that each is modified by personal and national idio- 
syncrasies. These idiosyncrasies are, by the way, 
generally the last of all things that any one ever lives 
to realize, and therefore are, of all, the most likely to 
obscure the vision. 

It is yet too early to determine anything regarding 
the realization of the writer's prophetic words concern- 
ing the certain return of "good taste," or to say with 
assurance what opportunity the great shops will offer 
to women with slender purses to dress well and in 
fashions that will imitate successfully the appearance of 
their more fortunate sisters, but it is pretty safe to 
predict that the ratio of well-dressed women to those 
who have not arrived, has not greatly changed, either 
here or in London, since they themselves are not altered 
beyond recognition either as to qualities or ideals. It is 
equally certain that good taste never did become a 
general national asset overnight, and therefore we have 
a right to insist on waiting to be convinced that this 
autumn is the exception to the rule. 

We hear much about the trade and its importance in 
determining the season's materials and fashions. The 
working-class, too, is imitating in cheapest materials 
and in queerest places, all the exclusive modes that are 
believed even yet to be held in trust for those whose 
position (whatever that may mean) demands exclusive 

335 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

styles. It is neither new nor strange to find "the 
trade" or the proletariat bent upon outdoing the 
socially prominent in dress. 

In 1872 there was published in London, in the "Lady's 
Magazine," a letter written to the editor by a reputable 
trade grocer, who thus expressed himself: "I wish to 
God you would write something smart against fashion. 
My family is almost ruined by the article of dress. 
. . . Perhaps in nature, there never was such a 
figure! Only fashion to yourself a greengrocer's wife 
issuing from her cellar in Drury Lane, with a monstrous 
hoop, exposing a pair of legs, the ankles as thick as the 
calf, and the calf as thick as the modern waist; her hair 
bepuddened, her cheeks bedaubed with red, her neck of 
a crimson hue, her arms bursting through a pair of white 
gloves, the contrast between the two skins being almost 
the very opposite to each other; a thick-flowered silk 
exposing the whole front of a quilted petticoat that once 
was white, and then you have the appearance of my wife ! 
Her daughters made as ridiculous a figure, and Will, I do 
assure you, was not the least remarkable in the group." 

This heart to heart talk brought out in the next issue 
the following scathing reply from "a lady contributor," 
who evidently harked back to St. Edith of earlier fame, 
and forward to the modern "Inquiries and Correspond- 
ence" columns of our popular dailies and monthlies: 

"I think it is high time, then, for every female to 
exert a little knowledge she may be possessed of in the 
scribbling line, when the wits, under the characters of 
Green Grocers, dare to insult us, and speak of our 
hoops and other parts of our dresses, as freely as they 
exercise their authority over the ostlers at a country inn. 

336 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

"The favour, dear Madam, we wish of you, is to 
remonstrate with these smart gentlemen, and, with us, 
tell them they are incapable of correcting the foibles 
in the ladies' dresses, till they have established a 
criterion for their own. Did they adopt no other 
fashions than useful and becoming ones, they might 
have some solid reasons for reprehending us." 

Another modern prototype and an equally scathing 
example of masculine rebuke is found in the Roxburgh 
ballads of 1686, where a troubled and world-worn hus- 
band is made to say: 

The Invincible Pride of Women 

I have a Wife, the more's my care, who like a gaudy 

peacock goes. 
In top-knots, patches, powder'd hair, besides she is 

the worst of shrows; 
This fills my heart with grief and care to think I must 

this burden bear. 

It is here forecast to contrive to rise about the hour of 

Noon, 
And if she's trimm'd and rigg'd by five, why this I count 

is very soon; 
Then goes she to a ball or play, to pass the pleasant 

night away. 

And when _ she home returns again, conducted by a 

bully spark, 
If that I in the least complain, she does my words and 

actions mark. 
And does likewise my gullet tear, then roars like 

thunder in the air. 

337 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

In debt with every shop she runs, for to appear in 

gaudy pride, 
And when the milhner she duns, I then am forc'd my 

head to hide: 
Dear Friends, this proud imperious wife she makes me 

weary of my Hfe. 

New and alluring bait is appearing daily in all our 
publications, calculated to involve our modern ladies in 
just such distressing predicaments and in sooth there 
may be husbands even now thinking along the very 
same lines. Only to-day, one of our country's import- 
ant costume houses, evidently more finely organized 
mentally than its competitors, begins its advertise- 
ment of *' French spring styles" thus: 

"Just at this season of the year it seems irrelevant to 
present such an inspirational subject as spring clothes 
in prose so we've given our pen a free reign and told 
you about them in verse." And then the advertising 
man breaks into verse as follows: 

''Fashion sowed the seeds of style 

And tended them with care; 

Soon her garden bloomed apace 

And these are frocks that we found there. 

Tricolette of slender grace. 
Printed georgette crepe. 
Taffeta of bouffant charm- 
Smart with ruflSe, braid or drape, 

$75.00." 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

This is certainly less picturesque than the eighteenth 
century method of spreading fashions but possibly as 
well suited to produce results when we consider the 
present audience and other conditions. 

In another place in the same publication we find this 
supposedly alluring advertisement : 

"FRENCH FROCKS FOR SMALL AMERICANS" 

"A French frock, you know, is one of the most be- 
coming things that could happen to any good little 
girl. France loves 'the little ones' and her native 
genius is never more happily applied than when her 
deft fingers are fashioning some diminutive garment. 

"Her patience is unwearying, her artistic instincts 
always alive, her skill unfailing — what wonder, then, 
that the simplest of these little frocks is a marvel of 
daintiness, a perfect expression of the spirit of child- 
hood?" 

The point of appeal in this case is still more astonish- 
ing and every bit as sentimental. That the "com- 
mercial interests" are satisfied with their ^results is 
likely, and if they are, criticism of the means would be 
vain indeed. 

The play of life is ever set to a small number of in- 
stincts and performances. We recall with feelings of 
commiseration and respect the sumptuary laws of the 
church in the thirteenth century, the political bans of 
the seventeenth and the blue laws of Massachusetts as 
we read a special cable to the New York papers, from 
Milan, under the date of February 19, 1920, which 
runs: "Ban on Immodest Dress. Archbishop of 
Milan Refuses Communion to Women Who Offend. 

339 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

In consequence of the small heed paid to his past 
warnings against the prevailing feminine fashions, 
Cardinal Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan, in his Lenten 
pastoral orders his clergy to refuse holy communion to 
women who present themselves in unseemly garb." 

It appears that similar instructions were given 
earlier in the season by the Archbishop of Paris, and 
that no end of talk with the same aim is being given 
out by self-appointed uplifters of society's moral tone, 
here and abroad ; and yet dresses were never so short or 
so low cut, nor were they ever thinner than they are 
now. Certainly a more complacent contempt was 
never shown in the defying of all mandates ^ ecclesiasti- 
cal and social, in order to achieve the satisfaction of 
being in the fashion and of producing, if not experienc- 
ing, a new sensation as often as a new idea can be 
brought out. It may seem to the mere observer that 
we can no longer boast, as did our eighteenth century 
forebears, that ''manners are essential, while morals 
are optional" but must meekly acknowledge the on- 
ward march of individualism, which seems to have 
placed both these virtues frankly and finally in the 
optional list. 

Traditions die hard, however, even in the twentieth 
century, when religious, political, and social agnosticism 
not only is looked on as a fashionable fad but is far too 
universally accepted. Individualism, personal rights, 
and equality, not only of opportunity but of assured 
achievement, are the absorbing themes for every nation. 
Only the means and the manner of realization differ as 
the inheritance and environment of nations dictate. 
It is worthy of remark that being fashionable plays no 
340 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

small part in the inauguration and dissemination even 
of these ideas, for the "Parlour Bolsheviki" of various 
degrees of intelligence, sincerity, and social satiation, 
are no mean factor in determining present standards 
and in distributing propaganda. With the merits or 
demerits of the situation we are not concerned, but in 
the universality of impulses, activities, and effects on 
life we are deeply interested. The two forces, fashion 
and commercialism, are still functioning and their 
power over men's minds was never more apparent than 
to-day. 

Other traditions of autocracy persist, however, in the 
midst of all this. True, the court is no longer the sole 
originator of customs and fashions, neither is it given 
to it to command in these matters outside its own 
limited province, yet not all escape being hypnotized, 
even in their own country, by the glamour that sur- 
rounds pomp, splendour, and magnificent form. Lead- 
ing Sunday papers print to-day a full page of European 
royalties, each in mediaeval or Renaissance robes of 
state calculated to distinguish this particular class as 
superhuman or at least quite unique. The effect 
of this on individuals as it is presented to them is 
astonishing. Comments range all the way from rever- 
ence to sacrilege, from adoration to contempt, from 
amusement to positive belligerence, and from the 
comic to tiie tragic, each one of us declaring himself 
at the same time to be a firm believer in the democratic 
idea of the liberty, equality, and brotherhood of man. 

The sentimentalist cannot even yet disassociate 
quality from material or realities from beliefs. The 
romanticist and the aesthete find in these things only 

341 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

pageant thrills for the imagination and the aesthetic 
sense. The literal and realistic type must either have 
a symbol or the material, in all things, or he entirely 
misses the point; and so on all through the various 
types. But the number of those still aspiring to climb, 
or finding other satisfaction in these ancient or auto- 
cratic forms in costume expression, is not so small as we 
imagine, nor are any of us as immune to its subtle 
charm as we would have ourselves and our neighbours 
believe. It is difficult to distinguish just where ab- 
stract enjoyment of a performance and its trappings 
leaves off and belief in the idea it symbolizes begins. 

As a matter of fact, a large number of us are still 
greatly influenced by the strict orders as to court dress 
issued by the English queen, for example, not only at 
court functions but in general social life. On the other 
hand there are plenty of others conforming rigidly and 
apparently cheerfully to autocratic restrictions at 
court, who rush madly out into the freest spot they can 
find to satisfy their natural desire to be individual and 
incidentally to produce and to feel the sensation that 
comes from the extremes that fashion provides for so 
lavishly from day to day. 

Another royal blow, however, has just been dealt us, 
and an impetus given to royal prestige by George V 
of England, who is reported in words and by photo- 
graph this week as appearing in public with "razor 
edge creases" pressed in the sides of each leg of his 
royal trousers, instead of having one in front and the 
other behind. This same fashion, we are told, was 
inaugurated once by Edward VII, but royal prerog- 
ative could not win against established English habit. 
342 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

We shall see how the mandate works in 1920, but we 
may in the meantime console ourselves with the 
thought that it takes all kinds of people to make a 
world and each has sought satisfaction according to his 
kind. Furthermore, it seems that the necessary ma- 
terial for the sensation has heretofore always been 
forthcoming. We may with confidence assume that 
the exception is not yet, and that we shall each choose 
the place for the crease according to our kind. 

It seems that Spain alone has so far succeeded in 
keeping to the strict letter of ancient law in customs, 
forms, and display in matters of court life, though we 
read that, "a part of each day is allowed these royal- 
ties to breathe naturally." This was not allowed their 
early ancestors. A despatch dated March 13, 1920, 
from Madrid, has the caption: "Alphonse's Court 
Retains Splendour. Madrid, March 13: The royal 
house of Spain, despite the democratic nature of the 
King and people, alone among the remaining courts of 
Europe retains all the Old World formalities which up to 
the outbreak of the war were so rigorously observed in 
Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin and to a greater or less 
extent in London, Rome and some of the smaller capi- 
tals of Europe. 

'' This is due to a large extent to the influence of the 
Queen Mother, Maria Christina, who remains all 
powerful in' court circles and is a stickler for the ob- 
servance of those forms and ceremonies which marked 
all occasions at the Court of Austria, where, as a Grand 
Duchess, she learned them. 

^'King Alfonso, after receiving in the throne room at 
the palace in the morning, may rub shoulders with 

343 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

jockeys, book-makers, and the general run of racegoers 
at the track in the afternoon, but when he returns to 
the palace in the evening he resumes, as it were, the 
crown. 

"The strict formality of the court was observed at the 
banquet and reception given to the Diplomatic Corps a 
short time ago, when for the first time the repre- 
sentatives of all countries had been invited to the same 
function since the summer of 1914. The guests saw a 
display of jewels which probably could not be matched 
outside of Asia. Although the diplomats were the 
guests of the evening the younger members of the 
royal family preceded them and were to the right and 
left of Queen Victoria at the tables; the Ambassadors 
and ministers of State coming after them. 

"Dinner over, the King and Queen with the royalties 
and dinner guests formed in procession down a long 
reception hall, where the foreign representatives pre- 
sented the members of their staffs. The King and 
Queen stopped at each group to pass a few words, but 
this was the only informality of the evening. Later in 
the throne room guests not belonging to the Diplo- 
matic Corps were presented. 

"The finest scene, however, was on the grand stair- 
case, on either side of which stood a row of brilliantly 
gowned women wearing many jewels and as the men in 
their brilliant uniforms passed up and down the stair- 
case a changing colour scheme was presented. 

"Queen Victoria in a dress of cloth of gold, a wonder- 
ful diamond tiara on her fair head, two great diamond 
necklaces reaching to her waist, was a stately and 
dazzling figure. 
344 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

"The Queen Mother was equally resplendent in 
pearls, of which she wore a collar of six rows, a tiara, two 
necklaces and many clusters. Ladies-in-waiting wore 
jewels formed of every precious stone known, with 
whom vied the wives and daughters of the grandees of 
all Spain." 

We had for a time thought of the costumes and jewels 
of Beatrice d'Este as setting the standard of glory and 
of the wardrobe of Marie de' Medici as finishing the 
possibilities in individual display of the mineral king- 
dom, and of the formalities at Versailles in the days of 
the great Montespan as a climax in stage business, but 
history repeats itself; even now it would be interesting 
to know what any of these great ladies, or even the 
present Dowager Queen of Spain, would think if by 
some magic she could be brought face to face with 
certain boxes in the Golden Horseshoe at the Metro- 
politan Opera House in New York on Wednesday or 
Friday evening when a sensation has been promised. 
Be it said, however, there are less of these exhibitions 
than there were a few years ago when glittering jewels 
instead of the milder lustre of the modest pearl, were 
supposed to express affluence. Obviously, however, 
not all the jewels nor the full dress uniforms are at the 
court of Madrid, nor was it at Versailles or Milan that 
gorgeous display found its Waterloo. 

It may be added here that in most cases this modern 
sumptuous raiment is not as strictly traditional with 
some of its wearers as it was in earlier periods when 
taste was generally inherent, and when more time was 
allowed the individual to become acquainted with 
social claims and their responsibilities than is possible 

34.5 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

with a people so hard pressed as we for immediate ex- 
pression on so elaborate a scale. 

Some of us were perhaps rather shocked to find the 
great ladies of Renaissance Italy using paint for their 
daily makeup, and not all of us were willing to give the 
eighteenth century social set in France the supreme place 
in this important practice, believing perhaps that we 
were the discoverers of something new. But we were 
completely silenced this week by a noted lecturer and 
archaeologist who assures us that "women painted six 
thousand years ago and pencilled their eyebrows in 
very much the same fashion they do to-day." This 
seems almost too much, if our fashions are the product 
not only of those of the last two thousand years but of 
those of the time of Nineveh and Babylon as well. If 
we have proved true to every practice and folly of the 
ages we may look ahead with supreme complacence to 
a further interpretation of all these practices along the 
same well developed lines. 

Admitting then, frankly, that the fundamental ap- 
petites, longings and desires of man are and always were 
practically the same; that elemental impulses have 
acted and probably will act and react under the same 
conditions quite similarly, as long as man exists; that 
vanities, jealousies, and self-interest will influence the 
next century as they have all of those that have gone 
before and that fashion, commercialism, and the 
material interests of the universe will play as large a 
part as possible, still there are two very important facts 
that indicate somewhat the quality of the domination 
that we may reasonably hope for in this new era which 
almost every one believes to have just opened. 
346 




TO BEHOLD IN SILENCE IS A PRIVILEGE, TO COMMENT SUPERFLUOUS 
AND SENSELESS. (jULY, 1877.) 




"^^^^m'i^i^w^ 











m 








" ■'^^. 



%■ 



AN EXAMPLE OF FASHION STRIVING FOR PIQUANT ORIGINALITY 
IN THE DAYS OF THE DIRECTOIRE 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

Two elements of this combination, commercialism 
and fashion, are struggling for pre-eminence and will 
determine largely what this new interruption or re- 
action is to be, and at the same time what will be the 
leading quality of the results. 

At this moment, however, the combat is between any 
and all ideals of social betterment on the one hand and 
the almost universal god, commercialism, on the other. 
When this latter force is controlled or even sensed by a 
majority in its sane relation to other things in life, the 
way is cleared for a mental concept of something in 
which there is a fair chance for other elements to be- 
come active, but not until then can a better order in art 
be born. 

But to return to the two encouraging facts : the first of 
these is to be found in a greatly quickened national 
and international sense. The prodigious cataclysm 
into which the world has been thrown has awakened the 
senses, stirred the impulses, and stimulated mental 
activity, to an alarming degree perhaps, as some are 
saying, but by no means has it yet been proved that 
the balance of this new and recharged energy will not 
be turned into constructive lines of a finer and a nobler 
sort than that which has determined the lives of nations 
for the last century. 

In the second place, by a somewhat mysterious, but 
none the less certain process, our national aesthetic 
sense has been jolted into semi-consciousness and 
seems to be gradually stretching itself preparatory to 
taking at least an infantile interest in its natural rights 
and powers. These, when once realized, will increase 
in scope as the sense develops. This sense will demand 

347 



PSYCHOLOGY OF DRESS 

the art quality for its satisfaction and whether we will 
or no we shall create, even in dress, with the art quality 
consciously an element in the work of our hands. This 
in turn will influence fashion and the ''commercial in- 
terests" will not be slow to take notice, because even 
they will not deny the commercial value of art. Until 
such time, however, as we really know what constitutes 
the art quality, have a genuine desire for it, get to 
work to acquire it, and through its possession begin to 
externalize it, we shall not even be in creative compe- 
tition with any other nation that is already in the field, 
with a consciousness equipped with this quality. 

In the meantime material conditions, both here and 
abroad, will probably right themselves, and we may 
yet awaken to the truth that with all our natural re- 
sources, innate inventiveness, commercial instincts and 
quickness, some other nation, less cocksure than we, 
may still be dictating both fashions and styles, not only 
to us but to the rest of the civilized world. 

Furthermore, the world is absolutely sure to go on 
for sundry reasons craving for sensations in dress, obey- 
ing meekly fashion's ever changing dictates, no matter 
whence they emanate. We shall wear furs in any month 
we are told to and go as nearly naked as the laws will per- 
mit, for precisely the same reasons. We shall in the 
main go without, or put on, in and out of season, in 
divers shapes and innumerable quantities, such per- 
fectly new and correct things as are presented to us. 

That love of luxury and inordinate display is not 
eliminated from human experience seems fairly certain, 
and that the bourgeoisie (after the Revolution in France) 
were not the last of the species that is to express itself 
348 



TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES 

in no uncertain terms in the choice of expensive and 
shining raiment, we are again reminded. 

Nor is there any Hkehhood that the ever-increasing 
knowledge of the rights and privileges of the prole- 
tariat, to be as fashionable and as dressy as those whose 
lot has fallen among less populous classes, will lessen 
the variety or the comedy of Fashion's expression, as 
she is represented both in the political and the social 
strongholds of our democracy in its onward move toward 
Utopian individualism. Granting all this, it still ap- 
pears that man is, after all, mostly the result of his 
environment, and that he will certainly express, unless 
forced to do otherwise, precisely what he is. 

THE END 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 281 

Addison, quoted, 251-52 

Alfieri, 223 

American Victorian, 330 

Anglo-mania of 1816-17, 296 

Anne of Austria, 151, 159, 161 

Anne of Cleves, dress worn by, 139 

Anne, of France, on Simplicity in Dress, 

102 
Anne, Queen of England, 188-90 
"Anti-healthy" fashion, 301 
Arcadian style in literature, 223 
Art quality of French fashions, 323- 

24 
Asceticism, Theory of, 98 

Ball gown (1869), Description of, 
309 

Balloon skirt, 309 

Barbarossa, Federico, 23 

Baroque Style, 167-68, 197-98 

Bassompierre, Marechal de, 157 

Battifol, quoted, 152-53 

Beatrice d'Este, 97, 345 

Bedroom of Marie de Medici, 152-53 

Belcher, Governor, 277 

Berlchardt on women of the Renais- 
sance, quoted, 91 

Bernardino, Fra, "92 

Berri, Duchesse de. Costume of, 291 

"Black Walnut Period," The, 330 

"Blues" and "Lilacs," 108 

Borgia, Lucrezia, 59, 71-77 

Botticelli, 62 

Brewer, Rev. E, Cobham, quoted, 
200 



Cabriolets, 258 

Calthrop's "English Costume" quoted, 

255, 298 
Cashmere Shawl, Introduction of, 293 
Castiglione quoted, 99 
Catherine de Medici, 105-12, 119, 123 
Ceremonies at the birth of a Prince, 

55-57 
Challamel, "History of Fashion" 

quoted, 308 
Charles I of England, 179-82 
Charles II of England, 183-88 
Charles V, of France, daily life of, 19- 

20 
Charles VII, of France, Costume in the 

reign of, 21 
Charles VIII of France, 96-101 
Charles IX of France, 120 
Charles V, Emperor of Germany, ete.,103 
Charleston, S. C, 275 
Chateauroux, Duchesse de, 200 
Chiericati, Francesco, letters to Isabella 

d'Este, 131-34 
Chippendale, 241 
Chivalry, 5, 9-12, 31-32 
Chivalry in England, Modifications 

of, 33-34 
Cicisbeo, The, 221-22 
Classic Greek Mania (1796), 215 
Classic Revival, 222 
Classicism, 49 
Clement VII, Pope, 105-06 
"Cloth of Gold," see "Field of the 

Cloth of Gold" 
Colbert, 161-62 
Colonial Costume, 264-83 

353 



INDEX 



Colour, Range of, amongst the Vene- 
tians, 86-87 
Conversazione, 234 
Coronation Costume, Henry VIII. 136- 

37 
Cosmetics, 229, 258, 346 
Costume, see 

Colonial Costume 

Dutch Costume 

English Costume 

French Costume 

Italian Costume 

Mediaeval Costume 

Military Costume 

Venetian Costume 
Costume, "Woman's, in business, 298 
" Cotehardies," 43 
Cowley, quoted on the dress of ladies 

of quality, 181 
Crinoline, Introduction of, 307 
Cromwell, Oliver, 182-83 
Crusades, The, 12-13 

Diaphanous gowns, 293 

Directoire Style, 264, 284 

Dolls, French, 278 

Domestic Customs, see English Domes- 
tic Customs 

Domestic Life in Middle Ages, 15 

Doublet, 114 

Du Barry, Mme., 201-02, 208 

Duclaux, Mary, on the High Renais- 
sance in Italy, 97-98 

Dutch Costume (Colonial), 270-72 

Dutch influence in English fashions, 188 

Earrings, Invention of, 88 
Ecclesiastical dominance in Middle 

Ages, 8 
Edith, St., quoted, 39 
Edward VI, Sermon preached before, 140 
Edward VII, 342 
Egerton, Mary Margaret, 252 
Eighteenth Century, The, in England, 
S54 



238-64; in France, 193-215; in Italy, 
216-37; in the U. S., 265-83 

Eleanor, Queen, eflSgy of in West- 
minster Abbey, 41 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 142-46 

Empire fashions in Italy, 315 

Empire Style, 263; description of, 292- 
93 

English Costume, 41; 

At the time of Richard III, 127; 
Henry VIII, 138-39; Queen Eliza- 
beth, 144-45 

English Costume of Gentlemen 

At the time of Henry VIII, 141; in 
1751, 231-33 

Englfeh Costume of Women in the Mid- 
dle Ages, 43-44 

English domestic customs, 35-45 

English mind. The, 242-43 

English Styles : Victorian era, 303 

d'Entraigues, Henriette, 157-58 

Erasmus of Rotterdam, 132 

d'Estampes, Mme., 103, 105-06, 108 

d'Estrees, Gabrielle, 157 

Eugenie, Empress, 304-05 

Faneuil, Andrew, 277 

Fanshaw, Lady, quoted, 185 

Fashion see Modern Fashion 

Fashions of 1854, 306 

Ferrara, Marriage ceremonies at, 71-77 

Feudal System, 8-9 

Feudalism in Italy, 22 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 137 

Florence, Fashion in, 90 

Fontanges, Duchesse de, 164 

Forks introduced into France, 158 

Francis I, 103-111 

Franklin, Benjamin, 282 

French Costume (Frangois I), 114; of 

1760, 205-06 
French Revolution, Women's dress in 

the, 212-13 
Frock coat. The, 314 



INDEX 



Gentleman, Dress of a, at time of 

Charles II, 185 
George I, Costume in the period of, 250, 

252 
George III, 260 
George V, 342 
Ghirlandajo, 62 
Gloves, Mourning, 277 
Gobelin tapestries, 110 
Goldoni, 223, 230 
Goldoni on Theory of Hair-dressing, 

313 
Goldoni, on the Conversazione, 234 
Goldsmith, 245 
Gothic Art, 4-6 
Gozzi, 223 

Greek art. Spirit of, 99 
Gregorovius, on Lucrezia Borgia and 

her Wedding Portion, 72-74 
Gregory X, Pope, 26 

Hair, A gentleman's, at the time of 

Queen Anne, 251-52 
Hair-dressing, Absurdities of, 263 
Hair-dressing at the time of Charles I, 

180 
Hair-dressing, "Hedge-hog" style of, 

209 
Hair-dressing, Venetian, 89, 229 
Hallam, on Furnishings at the Beginning 

of the Reign of Henry VII, 129-30 
Handkerchief, 230 
Headdress, Feminine, at the time of 

Charles II, 188-89 
Henrietta of France, 179 
Henry III of England, 39-40 
Henry VII of England, 128, 131 
Henry VIII of England, 104, 128, 131, 

135-141, 147 
Henry II of France, 111-119 
Henry III of France, 122-25 
Henry III of France, Description of 

dress of, 123 
Henry IV of France, 150-51 



Hepple white, 241 

Holbein, 138 

Holinshed's Chronicle, quoted, 145 

Hoop craze in England, 189-90 

Hoops, Introduction of, 258, 307 

Immodest Dress, Chm-ch ban on, 339-40 
Independent Dress, The Age of, 310 
"Industrial Art Revival," 331 
Innocent III, Pope, 23 
Innocent XI, issues Bull, 158 
Ippolito, Cardinal, 74 
Ireland, early manners, customs, 134 
Irving, Washington, quoted, 270 
Isabella, Duchess of Gonzaga, 62-69, 

77, 83-85, 327 
Italian domestic life in the Middle 

Ages, 27-30 
Italian Costume, 315 
Italian summer palace. Description of, 84 
Italian town life (Thirteenth Century), 

24-25 

James I of England, 176-79 

James II of England, 187-88 

John of Salisbury, on the Training of a 

Knight, 33 
Josephine, Empress, 291 
Justinian, "Institutes" of, discovered, 

13 

Knighthood, Effeminate tendency of, 

33-34 
Knighthood, Training for, 9-10, 33 

La Bruyere, on the Use of Cosmetics, 

165 
Lace introduced into England, 178-79 
Lace, Point d'Angleterre, 291 
Latino, Cardinal, issues Sumptuary 

Regulations, 26 
"Ladies Library" (1739), quoted, 247 
"Lady's Magazine" (1872), quoted, 336 
Lady's Wardrobe of 1720, Inventory of, 

251 

855 



INDEX 



La Valliere, Mile, de, 161, 165-66 

Leckzinski, Marie, 200 

Leo X, Pope, 104 

"Lilacs" and "Blues," 108 

"Lionel and Clarissa," 249 

Lombard League, The, 23 

London Times on "Paris Fashions," 

quoted, 333-34 
Lorenzo de Medici, 60-62 
Louis XI, 22, 96-97 
Louis XII, 101-03 
Louis XIII, 151, 159 
Louis XIV, 160-67, 195 
Louis XIV, Maker of modren fashion, 

320, 328 
Louis XV, 196-207 
Louis XVI, 207-08 
Louis Seize Style, 235-36 
Love-lock, The, 179 

Maintenon, Mme. de, 161, 166, 195 
Mantignon, Mile, de. Trousseau of, 

214 
Mantua, The Court of, 65-66 
Marie Antoinette, 207-11 
Marie de Medici, 151-56, 345 
Marot, Clemont, 104 
Marriages: Bianca Sforza to Emperor 

Maximilian, 79-82; Lucrezia Borgia, 

71-77; Princess Elizabeth to the 

Prince Palatine, 178 
Mary I, Queen of England, 141-42 
Mary Stuart, 116-17 
Masks "a la Venise," 124 
Maximilian, Emperor, 79-82 
Mazarin, 151, 162 
Mediaeval Costume, 17-18 
Mediaevalism, 1-46, 193-94 
Mengs, 222 
Metastasio, 223 
Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 

345 
Michelet, quoted, 166-67 
Milan, Description of (1771), 235-36 
356 



Military Costume, 19 

Modern Fashion, Origin of, 320-1 

Molmenti, on Art in Venice, 169-70; 
on Life in country villas in Italy, 174; 
on the Costume of the Venetian 
aristocracy, 87-88 

Montague, Lady Mary, on Parisian fash- 
ion, 205 

Montendre, Dubois de, quoted on Ex- 
travagance, 164-65 

Montespan, Mme. de, 162, 165 

Morgan, Lady, quoted, 291 

Moui-ning, 276 

Mouchy, Duchesse de, 309 

"Mutton leg sleeve," 297 

Nantes, The Edict of (1598), 151 
Napkins, Table, Introduction of, 29 
Napoleon I, 284-90 
Napoleon III, Marriage of, 305-06 
New England Costume, 267, 273-74, 277 
Nineteenth Century, The, 284-317 
Nobility, Dress of (time of Frangois I), 

114 
Norman Castle, Description of a, 37 
Norman Conquest of England, 34 

Odom, "History of Italian Furniture," 

quoted, 29, 65-66, 236 
Odom, on the High Renaissance, 70 

Paniers, 204, 213 

Paris, Description of, in the Fourteenth 

Century, 18 
Patches, 158, 230 
Pell, Miss, 275 
Pepys' diary, 185-86 
Perfumes, Passion for, 93 
Petrarch, on the Customs and Manners 

of the French, 18-19 
Philadelphia Centennial (1876), 330-31 
Philip Augustus, 14; Costume of, 16 
Philippe le Bel, Costumes in the reign 

of, 17 



INDEX 



Piozzi, Mrs., "Observations" quoted, 

261 
Platonic Love, 100 
Point d' Angleterre lace, 291 
Poitiers, Dianne de, 103, 108, 111, 

113 
Pompadour, Mme. de, 200-02 
Pritchard, Mrs., 269 
Proletariat vs. Aristocracy, 299 
Pullman Period, The Early, 330 

Queen Anne Period, 240 

Rachel, 301 
Ramilie Tail, 252 
Renaissance, Climax of the, 57 
Renaissance in England, 125-48; in 

France, 95-125; in Italy, 47-94 
Renaissance, Periods of the, 51-52 
Revival of Letters, 126, 131, 136 
Richard III of England, 127 
Richelieu, 151, 159 
Riding-habit, The, 251 
"Robe Volante" (1730), 205 
Robin, Abbe, 274 
Rocaille, 198 

Rochambeau, Count, 280, 282 
Rococo, 218, 224 
"Romance of the Rose," 20 
Romantic School, The, 301 
Rome, The Renaissance in, 71-77 
Romney, George, 256 
Rousseau quoted, 297 
Roxburgh Ballads of 1686, quoted, 337 

Sansovini, 54 

Sarto, Andrea del, 62 

Savonarola, 22, 92 

Second Empire Style, 304 

Sedgwick, "Italy in the Thirteenth 

Century," quoted, 24 
Seventeenth Century, The, in England, 

175-90; in France, 149-67; in Italy, 

167-75 



Sforza, Bianca, 79-82 

Sforza, Caterina, 57, 93 

Sforza, Lodovico, 55 

Sheraton, 241 

Sir Roger de Coverley, 253 

Skipton Castle, 130 

Smollett, "Travels through France 

and Italy" quoted, 258 
Southern Colonists, The, 265 
Spain, Court etiquette of, 343-54 
Sparrow, "The English House," quoted, 

35-37 
"Spectator," The, quoted on The Hoop 

Craze, 189-90 
"Spencers," 296 
Stael, Mme. de, 293 
Sully, Due de,. 123 
Sumptuary Laws in Italy, 31; in Venice, 

87 
Swinburne, Henry, quoted, 213-14 

Table Manners (1290), 29 

Tarabotti, Arcangela, on Venetian 

Dress,, -172-73 
Third Republic, The, 310 
Titian, 62 

Toilet, First books published, on the, 93 
Toilet of Marie de Medici, 154 
Tournament, Description of a, 14-15 
Train, The CoLu-t, 305 
Trousseau of a certain Venetian Lady 

(1744), 225-28 
Tulle, 211 

Turban, Turkish, 121 
Turin, Bourgeoisie of, 315 
Twentieth Centm-y, The Early, 318-49 

Umbrella, The, 255 

Urbino, Court of the Duke of, 83 

Vandyke Style, 179-80 
Velvet, the most Fashionable Fabric, 115 
Venice, Dress of a Lady of Quality in, 
86 

357 



INDEX 

Venice in the Seventeenth Century, Victorian Period, 303 

170-71, 174 

Venice, Renaissance in, 85-90 Waist line, 292 

Venice, Visit of Beatrice d'Este to. Watch chains. Men's, 313 

77-78 Watering places (1855-60), 308 

Venetian Costume (male), 89 Willoughby, Mrs., 269 

Vernon on Eighteenth Century Italy, Winckelmann, 222 

quoted, 220 Wolsey, Cardinal, 137 

Vernon on the Baroque Style, quoted. Woolen Clothing in England, 40 

167-68 



358 



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